


Buy Your Love

by jstonedd



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-03
Updated: 2015-02-02
Packaged: 2018-02-28 00:51:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 44,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2712908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jstonedd/pseuds/jstonedd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For charity and good publicity purposes, µ's will be hosting an auction where fans get to bid for a date with each member. But they'll quickly realize that they haven't quite thought it through, suddenly setting something big in motion that will change the group dynamic permanently. </p><p>Alternative summary: Gay idols everywhere</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Going Once

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know why I thought writing about six ships simultaneously in one fic would be a good idea but I just love all those character so much I couldn't not include them

“Honoka, no.”

“Wait, hear me out, it's really -”

“No,” Eli flat out interrupted her, crossing her arms with a stern look. “I don't like it when you begin sentences with 'I just woke up with a great idea', even less if it involves me.”

“But you didn't even listen to the whole thing,” Honoka complained with a pout. “So mean...Nozomi always lets me finish my explanations.”

“Well, Nozomi is too kind to act any differently.” Eli's eyes softened at the mention of her best friend before they narrowed in seriousness again. “But whatever suggestion you have, I refuse.”

“ _I refuse_ ,” Honoka mimicked her in a deadpan voice, “you sound just like Maki. Fine, don't hear my amazing plan about boosting µ's popularity then, I'm sure Nozomi will love it.”

“Ah, wait, Hono...ka...” Eli found herself reaching in vain after the energetic second year who had already excitedly dashed out of the club room, determined to find her other senpai to pitch her idea to.

“Somehow...I have a bad feeling about this...” Eli muttered under her breath, uneasily rubbing her arms.

 

\----------

 

Eli regretted ever saying those words. Though she had never been much of a superstitious person, she had still respected the unspoken law of never voicing pessimistic forecasts because doing so might amplify the chances of said pessimistic forecasts to happen by a thousandfold. But she went ahead and jinxed it, and who else was there to blame besides herself?

Well, she could always blame it on Honoka. Technically, there was only Honoka to blame this time around, but Eli was at fault too for letting it get so far in the first place. Maybe she really should have fully listened to Honoka's plans, and under the pretense of improving the plan, altered it.

But now it was too late. Voted with six in favor, two against and one impartial, Honoka's idea had gotten the stamp of approval from the members of µ's. Well, most of them.

Maki didn't care much for the plan but wouldn't vote against it as long as she was left in peace. She was the impartial vote.

Predictably, Umi immediately vetoed the idea.

And when Eli voted against it, it was simply out of protest. And pride. She was not going to give Honoka the satisfaction of coming up with a decent plan after having just told her otherwise, and she was most definitely not going to sell herself on an auction.

Well, this probably needed some further explanation.

On that day during lunch break, buzzing with endless energy and unrestrained excitement, Honoka had relentlessly run around inside school from corner to corner to personally gather every member of µ's, urgently pulling them to the club room before sprinting off again to collect the next one. And when all of µ's were finally present, eight pairs of questioning eyes focused on their leader, wondering what she had come up with this time.

And she didn't disappoint, widely grinning as she announced, “µ's will hold an auction!”

“We will?” Umi and Maki skeptically said while Rin and Hanayo shared a confused look. Nico seemed to wait for the other shoe to drop while Eli's gut feeling told her to stand up and gag Honoka before she could start something that sounded like a big mistake. But she missed her chance when Nozomi asked, "An auction? What do we auction off? CD's? Personal belongings?"

“No, no, nothing like that. You'll understand when you see, here,” Honoka pointed to a spread out magazine on the table. “That's where I got my idea from! I can't believe A-Rise held an auction without us knowing, I would have – well, I wouldn't have been able to bid much, but I would have loved to be there at least.”

Nico was the first one to grab the magazine and scan the opened pages, muttering what she read in fast, strung together sentences which gave the other members a fair idea of what the content of the article was about.

“A date with Kira Tsubasa got sold for 550,000 Yen?!” Rin exclaimed in shock, not even reacting to Nico's chop on the head for screaming into her ear. She pulled the magazine out of Nico's hands and read out loud, “'A-Rise managed to generate a revenue of 1,480,000 Yen in total in exchange for three dates, one with each member respectively. The money will be donated to various foundations.”

Hanayo took the magazine with shaking hands and continued in a squeaky voice, “Several records were broken in the category 'auctions with school idols' that day. 'Most bids in a minute' goes to Toudou Erena, 'highest bid' goes to Kira Tsubasa and 'longest duration of a single auction' goes to Yuuki Anju.”

“See, see?” Honoka excitedly said, sounding like she had been the one to break all those records. “All this money just for a date with them! And good publicity! We could need both, what do you think?”

“Honoka,” Umi interjected with a sigh, “auctions like these are never held for the sole purpose of making profits. The money goes to charities.”

“Oh,” Honoka visibly deflated, shoulders dropping.

“Seriously, what were you thinking,” Maki muttered, twirling a strand of hair around her finger while she watched Nico and Rin fighting over who got to read the magazine next.

“But,” a gentle voice spoke up and everyone turned their head to the corner of the table, “this isn't a reason not to try, is it?”

“Nozomi?” Eli couldn't stop herself from uttering that name. Her mouth sometimes worked without the permission of her brain, letting the thoughts of her heart slip through every so often when it came to her best friend.

Nozomi smiled knowingly. “Don't we want to give our fans a chance to be closer to us, since they are the ones who made it possible for us to be where we are now? I think it would be nice for us to try and reach out to them, to let them know that we are thankful. After all, it's dangerous to take things for granted.”

She expectantly looked into the round who had gotten quiet at her words. Rin and Nico stopped their fight and placed the magazine between them. Maki stopped playing with her hair, Honoka's stance instantly straightened again and Kotori and Hanayo looked at Nozomi with sparkling eyes.

“As expected of Nozomi, always thinking of everyone else,” Umi finally said with a small smile, earning everyone's muttered agreement. “But,” she added reluctantly, “I will still have to vote against it.”

“Eh, why?” Kotori tugged at Umi's arm. “It's such a good idea and it could help you to overcome your shyness if you spend a day with a fan.”

“A-a whole day?” Hanayo stuttered, suddenly looking horrified. “Dinner included?”

“Of course!” Nico burst out with a booming voice, startling both Hanayo and Rin next to her. “Dinner is the highlight of the day, the cherry on top. It's our duty as school idols to give our fans an experience they'll never forget - ah, why didn't I come up with this idea myself?”

“Probably because you never think,” Maki remarked drily, easily dodging the magazine Nico threw her way.

“Now, now,” Nozomi soothingly said, “fights are only good for a relationship if they are kept in moderation.”

“E- Eh?” Face flaming up with a vibrant red, Maki glared at Nozomi. “What are you talking about?”

Nozomi innocently smiled and tilted her head. “Denial is unhealthy.”

“Shut up, Nozomi,” Nico growled, her cheeks just as flushed. “Weren't we talking about celebrity auctions?”

“They're both blushing, how cute nya,” Rin squealed before she let out a pained groan because Nico had given her a chop on the head again.

“Yes, auctions,” Kotori tried to ease the tension with a smile, “Honoka, have you already thought about concrete plans?”

“Of course!” Honoka confidently replied, nodding eagerly. “We should hold the auction in Akiba, and our fans will get the chance to bid for a date with each of us.”

A hand shot up. “Objection.”

“Elichi?” Nozomi questioningly gazed at the blonde sitting next to her.

“This may be a good way to connect with fans, but only with one certain spectrum of fans. No one normal can afford to bid along, which makes it unfair to the majority of our fans. So it would be better if we didn't sell our company for those with the biggest wallets.”

“Couldn't you have said it differently,” Nico said with a grimace.

Umi looked horrified as she repeated to herself, “Sell our company? It sounds so dirty...”

“Now, now,” Kotori comforted her best friend by rubbing her arm.

“Eli has a point,” Maki said with a sigh. “These auctions would be a privilege of very few fans.”

“And it would be embarrassing if no one bid for me,” Hanayo tremblingly said, shrinking in her seat.

“Don't worry, Kayochin, I would definitely bid for you!” Rin cheerfully said, throwing an arm around her friend and hugging her close.

“Rin.” Hanayo happily blushed.

“Gag,” Nico muttered before she said in a louder voice, “No one bidding for you is impossible, Hanayo. Have more confidence in yourself, you're a national school idol now for heaven's sake. You have your own dedicated fans who would do anything for you, so stop worrying!”

“Nico...” Hanayo whispered, visibly touched.

“Just like Nico said, you'll be fine!” Honoka optimistically said with a thumbs-up, “Right, everyone?”

The rest of the members nodded agreeingly, smiling at Hanayo.

“Don't worry,” Kotori encouragingly said, “Hanayo is so cute after all. Who wouldn't want to bid for her?”

“And her breasts are impressive for a first year,” Nozomi added with a cheeky grin.

“No - Nozomi...”

“Like I said, I will bid for you until I get a date!” Rin brightly said.

“I don't get it,” Maki said with a shrug. “You see her every day.”

Rin blew up her cheeks and huffed. “But then someone else will be on a date with her.”

And the club room fell silent. With just one sentence, Rin had pointed out one major side effect of those date auctions.

“Guys?” Honoka asked in confusion, wondering what exactly she had missed in the split second that caused her friends to wear such stiff expressions.

No one wanted to explain to Honoka that the idea of someone they loved going on a date with someone else made them uncomfortable because no one wanted to admit to loving someone within this very same club.

“Spending time with a stranger is the point of those auctions, Rin,” Maki said after clearing her throat, stealing a glance at Nico.

“Eh, I thought it was about raising money for charity?”

“That too, but you can't steal the chance to meet Hanayo away from our fans.”

“But what if they steal Kayochin from me?”

It astounded the club members how honest Rin could be with her feelings when it came to Hanayo, being completely unapologetic about loving and cherishing her. To some extent, they wished they could be more like her in this aspect about their own loved ones.

“Rin,” Hanayo placed her hand on top of Rin's, “you've been my best friend for the longest time, no one can take the place you have in my heart away from you.”

“Kayochin,” Rin happily breathed.

“What is this sappy show,” Nico muttered beneath her breath, but didn't really mind the heartfelt and genuine feelings the two first years shared. “Moving on, where were we?”

“That most fans can't bid along in an auction?” Kotori offered.

“Exactly,” Eli impatiently tapped on the table with her fingers. “It could backfire in many ways.”

“I have to agree with Eli,” Umi added. “Honoka, what if not enough people bid for us? We would only embarrass ourselves and lower our value when our auctions don't reel in a decent amount of money. And A-Rise has already set a very high bar that we have to surpass since we are three times as many people.”

“I know, I know,” Honoka whined, holding her head. “But if we only ever talk about the risks, we'll never get something done.”

“I think it sounds like fun,” Kotori brightly said, then turned to Umi on her right side, “Have we ever regretted following Honoka's plans, Umi? She's right, you know. If all we do is worrying about bad things to happen, we'll miss out on the good things too.”

Umi's gaze at her softened. “So you can be mature about these things too, Kotori.”

Kotori smiled at her, her hand automatically searching for Umi's to grasp. “I want to be reliable like you, Umi.”

“Chrm,” Eli cleared her throat, having caught on to the shifting mood between the two second year students. “I think it's time for a vote everyone.”

All members of µ's nodded in agreement.

“Those in favor for the idea, raise your hands,” Nico asked into the round while holding up her own hand. Six hands rose in the air.

“Umi?” Honoka asked when she saw her best friend's hands on the table.

Umi defensively crossed her arms. “I never said I agreed. Kotori is right of course about discovering new things, but I still think it's something we're not ready for yet.”

“Hah?” Honoka let out a sound of disappointment, turning her head to the next one with their hand down. “Then, Maki? Where's your hand?”

“I don't really care,” Maki replied with a shrug, “you can hold the auction as long as I get to stay out of it.”

“That's no good,” Nico shook her head, “we can't deprive our fans of their favorite tsundere, that will lower our overall value.”

“Who are you calling tsundere?” Maki snapped, leaning forward in her seat to glare at Nico sitting opposite of her.

“Case in point,” Nico said and gestured to Maki's stiff stance.

“You little-”

“Now, what did I say about fights in relationships?”

Nozomi, who had been sitting to Maki's left, placed a hand on her shoulder to gently push her back into the seat.

“Stop saying stuff that makes no sense,” Nico complained.

“Did Nicochi just ask for a good breast rub she'll never forget?” Nozomi said, holding a hand to her ear. “I think she did.”

“Stay away from me,” Nico hissed, looking actually afraid as she subconsciously crossed her arms in front of her breasts. “Eli, please don't let Nozomi near me. Put a leash on her or something, just make her keep her hands to herself.”

“She is not my pet,” Eli drily said, though she herself wasn't quite fond of the idea of Nozomi rubbing Nico's breasts . “And I am still against the plan.”

“Boo,” Honoka said with a pout, her arm dropping on the table, pounding on it in frustration. “We can't do this with only six members of µ's up for auction.”

“Then, in exchange for not participating in the auction, we three could hold an autograph session instead,” Umi suggested, gesturing to herself, Maki and Eli. “I think an autograph is something every fan has a chance of getting.”

“That's it!” Honoka clapped her hands. “How about it, Eli, Maki?”

Maki seemed to think about it for a second before she slowly nodded. “This is fair I guess.”

“But,” Eli protested, not wanting a compromise but an annihilation of the plan, “how can this be fair if only us three do this and the rest does something completely different?”

“We can always say that there will be a next time with switched members,” Nozomi offered. “If the auction is a success, we will have to hold one again anyway. And then you won't be able to cheat your way out of it, Elichi.”

Eli uncomfortably shifted in her seat. “Nozomi...”

“It's decided,” Nico said, hitting the table once with her palm, tired of more discussion that would take up more of her lunch break time. “Soldier Game Trio does autograph session while the rest holds the auction. Accepted?”

Honoka and Rin excitedly pumped their fists in the air, shouting “Yeah!”, followed by a more timid and quiet “Y-yeah” from Hanayo. Kotori clapped her hands together, smiling. “This will be fun!”

“My cards tell me so too,” Nozomi agreed, her fingers tapping on her deck of tarot cards.

Eli bit her lip. She wasn't going to verbalize her bad feelings this time.

\-------------

 

The autograph session was scheduled after the auction with a pause between those two events, so Eli, Umi and Maki had decided to be sitting in the audience too for the auction. The auction hall µ's had rented was packed full of excited fans, the press and some VIPs. For the latter group, the first two rows had been solely reserved for them and every chair had been tagged with a name.

When Umi took her seat next to Maki, who would sit in the middle between her and Eli, the second year noticed the logo of A-Rise attached to the backrest of the chair on her other side. Suddenly getting nervous at the thought of sitting next to the nationally famous members of A-Rise, Umi tried to shuffle her chair a bit closer to Maki but couldn't increase the distance to the yet empty chair by more than one inch.

“What are you doing?” Maki asked when she noticed Umi's fidgeting.

“Nothing,” Umi quickly said, forcing herself to become still.

But Maki had seen the logo on the empty chair next to Umi. “Still nervous about meeting A-Rise? We are on equal grounds now, don't put them on a high pedestal or they'll start looking down on us.”

Umi's shoulders relaxed and she let out a long breath. “You're right. I guess I'm still not used to it. Being a recognized idol, I mean.”

“I think that's a good thing,” Eli suddenly remarked, having listened in on them. Umi and Maki turned to her in surprise. “Like Nozomi said, it's dangerous to take things for granted. We sometimes rely too much on the things that are natural to us but are actually privileges.”

Her gazed wandered off to the stage where nobody was present yet except for the moderator who was preparing his cue cards.

“Hm,” Maki hummed neutrally. She did agree with Eli's view, but she had a feeling that the blonde had not been talking about fame.

Umi nodded slowly, wanting to comment on Nozomi's wise side when she felt something brushing her legs, flinching at the contact because she thought a bug was crawling on her.

“Oh, I'm sorry, did I scare you? There's hardly any space between the chairs, is there?” A light and airy voice spoke up quite close to Umi's ear and she inhaled sharply when she could feel warm breath tickling her earlobe. Her relaxed stance and calmness was gone within a second.

Maki and Eli looked up to see that A-Rise had arrived. Predictably, Tsubasa sat in the middle with Erena on the left and Anju on the right, which was why Umi found herself sitting next to Anju.

“No – no harm done,” Umi said after clearing her throat, staring down at her lap. But this was how she noticed that her leg was quite close to Anju's; if she spread her legs only a little bit, they would be touching with the girl next to her.

She tried to shift closer to Maki and the first year student let her, sighing and wondering how the calm and collected Umi could sometimes turn into a nervous child within seconds.

“A-Rise,” Eli greeted them with a nod once they had settled down. Maki barely raised her chin in acknowledgment.

“Ah, if it isn't µ's,” Tsubasa replied with a smile before her expression turned into one of surprise. “Are you not participating in the auction?”

“Erm, due to certain circumstances, it's not possible for us to spare a complete day for a date,” Eli said with an apologetic smile. Maki suppressed a snort. Undeterred, Eli continued, “But we hope to make up for this by giving an autograph session after the auction ends.”

“Ah, perfect,” Erena said, “I've wanted an autograph from Ayase-san for the longest time. And from Sonoda-san and Nishikino-san too, of course.”

“Please, call me Eli,” the blonde offered. “And thank you, you flatter us. If you have something for us to sign, we can do it right away, there's no need to wait until after. I'm sure you don't have that much time to spare.”

“Please and thank you.”

Erena was quick to produce a little notepad and a pen from her white blazer, reaching over Tsubasa and Anju to give it to Umi who nervously took both and wrote her name in the bottom corner of the paper.

“How cute,” Anju giggled upon seeing Umi's name written in tiny characters, barely visible on first sight. “I think I want to get an autograph too, is that okay, Sonoda-san?”

“Of - of course,” Umi stuttered, quickly passing the notepad and pen on to Maki, who signed the top corner of the page, her characters moderately sized. And when Eli signed her name, she wrote in the middle in a larger size to somehow fill the page and make up for her fellow members' small writing.

When Erena got her notepad handed back, she smiled in amusement at seeing three completely different types of handwriting. “I will treasure it,” she genuinely said, “thank you.”

“Such pretty handwriting,” Tsubasa remarked after a glance at the autographed page. “I'm envious. It's like you've been signing autographs for years.”

“Again, you flatter us...”

“You practice calligraphy, don't you, Sonoda-san?” Anju asked, distractedly searching her blazer pockets for a piece of paper. “It's obvious by the way you hold the pen, so elegant and skillful.”

“Really?” Umi unsurely said, but then smiled bashfully. “I do practice every day, thank you for noticing.”

“You're welcome,” Anju said with a wink but then faltered when she realized she had nothing for Umi to sign. “It seems like I don't carry a notepad around like Erena does.”

“I came prepared,” Erena commented somewhat proudly and satisfied. “It is an auction that µ's holds after all. I've expected the chance to run into some members.”

“I've also prepared,” Tsubasa said just as proudly, pulling out a wad of bank checks. “I'm not someone who likes to disappoint fans no matter of which idol group, but I hope Kousaka-san will be able to forgive me.”

“Uhm,” Maki felt compelled to ask if Tsubasa was still sane, but Eli sensed her intention and interjected, “That will be okay, as long as the auction is won fairly.”

“Of course.”

The audience suddenly erupted in loud cheers, wildly roaring and clapping, making the six school idols in the first row turn their heads toward the stage.

One by one, a member of µ's walked out from behind the curtains, waving at the crowd and making their signature poses. It was unbelievably loud in the auction hall, the sound of cameras furiously taking pictures blended in with the enthusiastic screams of the fans.

The introduction was kept short as the moderator knew that nobody had the patience to wait any longer to get to bid on their favorite idol, so he made a quick summary of rules and procedure.

The bid would start at zero Yen, the smallest step allowed was 1,000 Yen and if no particular sum was offered along with the obligatory hand signal, the bid would automatically increase by 5,000 Yen.

The first one to begin was Hanayo, and as she made her way to the front of the stage, she almost tripped and fell, causing the three µ's members sitting in the audience to tense up as well. But the first year student made it safely to the front and gave the fans a shy wave, which made them shout in excitement.

“Some - somebody save me,” Hanayo squeaked, making the crowd only roar louder.

The moderator raised his hand to show that they were ready and would start as soon as it got quiet. Silence engulfed the room, everyone tensing up with anticipation, especially those who genuinely wanted to compete for a date. Hanayo nervously stood next to the moderator, a single light beam focused on her. She would have to stand there for as long as the auction took while the other members got to sit in the background.

And the moment the moderator gave the green light, someone in the back shouted “150,000!”

Surprised by the huge price surge, even the moderator seemed to have forgotten to ask if there were more bids until someone else yelled “160,000!”

“That's going to take a while,” Tsubasa said with a sigh. “It always sounds like a fast auction at first since they start off high, but they are not going to make more jumps higher than this. The sum will slowly increase by 5,000 Yen until it reaches a point where common sense sets in and most people drop out.”

“Seems like we have an expert among us,” Maki commented, for which she earned a pinch from Eli and a warning glance from Umi. “What?” she said, not understanding what she had done wrong by simply stating an observation.

“Maki didn't mean to say it mockingly, this is just her usual tone,” Eli said, apologetic.

“Don't worry, we know. That is part of her charm after all,” Tsubasa said, smiling in amusement. “I believe Yazawa-san mentioned this once in her fan letters to us. If we don't get the chance to meet her personally today, then please send her our regards. We always fight over who gets to read her letters first, they are so amusing and never fail to make us smile even on rough days.”

“She wrote about me?” Maki's hand suddenly reached up to play with her hair, twirling the ends around her finger. This abrupt motion had been mistaken as a bid by the moderator who shouted, “And another bid in the front row, 235 grand now – come on, people, I'm sure there's more potential, don't let this cute super idol down!”

And he gestured to Hanayo who was nervously shifting her weight between her right and left foot, blushing when the moderator directed the attention back on her again.

“Do I see a hand over there? 240 grand, no, 245 grand – ah 250 grand, now we're talking people.”

Maki sighed in relief when she had been quickly outbid, but then tensed up again when she remembered what should be more concerned about.

“So about those letters...”

“Ah, yes,” Tsubasa chuckled, sharing a grin with Erena. “Yazawa-san always gives us hilarious insights of µ's' daily routine better than any reporter could. We can tell from the writing alone that she holds dear every single member of µ's. It's quite obvious, especially when she's writing about Nishikino-san.”

“Is that so?” Umi wondered, pleasantly surprised to hear about Nico caring so much.

“At least to some people Nico can be honest,” Eli slowly said, giving Maki a side glance. The first year student was endlessly twirling her hair around her finger, staring ahead, her gaze passing Hanayo and landing on a certain black-haired girl wearing a pink cardigan.

“315 grand, 315 grand going once, going twice, going three times – sold! Lucky winner, hold up your number – ah, a little bit higher please – there we go, number 282 just won a date with Koizumi Hanayo, congratulations!”

“So Rin didn't get to vote after all,” Eli commented, testing if Maki was still thinking about Nico. The lack of reply was a reply in itself.

“Kotori seems to be next,” Umi said, straightening her posture in her seat as Kotori switched places with Hanayo. As the latter one sank down on the chair previously occupied by Kotori, obviously relieved about no longer being the center of attention, the second year student brightly smiled and cheerfully waved at the roaring audience. And when she spotted Umi, she excitedly waved at her too.

“What an aura,” Erena commented, impressed. Tsubasa nodded. “I believe she is second to Kousaka-san in terms of aura.”

Maki and Eli chose not to react since it was very clear from the beginning that Tsubasa's opinions on the members of µ's were slightly biased.

“Well, she is quite cute,” Anju said with a giggle, clapping along with the enthusiastic crowd. “That reminds me...” She leaned towards Umi until their arms touched and innocently asked, “Say, Sonoda-san, are you dating Minami-san?”

“Da-dating?” Umi abruptly turned her head to Anju, but her blush only deepened when she noticed their faces being awfully close. She forced herself to face forward, rigidly staring ahead. “No, no, we're best friends, just childhood friends. What – what made you think otherwise?”

Maki and Eli shared a glance, no longer listening to the moderator but to the conversation next to them.

Anju chuckled, her eyes filled with amusement. “You see, I usually don't believe the media since I know firsthand how they like to twist truths into something more marketable. But...”

She reached out one hand to fix Umi's tie, placing it in a central position again. “If those rumors were just lies...then Minami-san wouldn't have to force a smile right now, don't you think?”

Umi turned her gaze to the stage, but her friend seemed to be still busy waving and smiling at the crowd. Umi doubted that Kotori had even seen their interaction. “I don't think I can support that statement.”

Anju let out a short laugh, somehow humored by Umi's obliviousness. “Your way of thinking is intriguing, Sonoda-san.”

With that, she put some distance between them again, turning to Tsubasa to discuss how high the A-Rise leader was willing to bid for a date with Honoka. Too preoccupied with her own troubled thoughts, Umi didn't hear the rest of the conversation but she would have been impressed at the enormous amount of money Tsubasa had to spare.

“Hey, Umi,” Maki whispered, but in that moment the moderator chose to yell, “Bidding for a date with Minami Kotori, three, two, one, go!”

“180,000!”

“Umi!” Maki tried again, nudging Umi's leg with hers.

Startled, Umi finally looked up at her fellow µ's member next to her. “Yes?”

Maki lowered her voice again, “Do you want to switch seats?”

“Why?” Umi asked in confusion. “Do you want to?”

“No, I couldn't care less about where I sit,” Maki impatiently said, but then reminded herself to speak quietly again. She carefully glanced past Umi at the members of A-Rise, only talking when she was sure that they wouldn't be listening on them. “I've got a bad feeling about her.” And she subtly nodded to Anju.

Umi wanted to look in the direction Maki had nodded because she was unsure who she was talking about, but the first year student was quick to pull at her ear and make Umi face her again. “Don't look or she'll know I'm talking about her! This is like basic logic, geez.”

“Yes, okay,” Umi whimpered with a grimace, “you can let go now...”

“Eli, help me out here, it seems like Umi can be quite dumb at times,” Maki whispered to Eli. The blonde sighed and leaned closer to the two, “Umi, you should be more careful about the things you say from now on.”

But Umi didn't quite know what to make of Maki's and Eli's serious gazes. “What do you mean? I'm not Honoka, I'm always careful about what I say.”

“Urgh,” Maki groaned in frustration, which was drowned out by the moderator yelling, “285 grand, no 290, wow you people are on fire! 295 – which is in the past again because now we're at 300 – 305 – please, give me time to breathe -”

Despite the intense fight over her, Kotori's smile seemed somewhat distracted and almost forced. Both Eli and Maki had noticed that and somehow had the feeling that Umi was responsible for this.

“Umi,” Maki impatiently said, “Don't forget that A-Rise are our biggest rivals. Even though they've been in the business far longer than we have, we've quickly become a threat to them. But it will be just as quickly over with one wrong move, so what Eli is trying to say is that A-Rise may be playing nice on the surface but are actually searching for a way to get rid of us. With a scandal. And if you're not careful, Anju might trick you into saying something you don't mean.”

“No way,” Umi muttered in disbelief, “they wouldn't. They've always played fair until now.”

“That was then, when we were still an unknown group, but this is now. We're just warning you.”

Umi frowned and faced away, gazing up at the stage again.

“345, 345 going once, going twice – no, a new bid, 350! 350 going once - and foiled again, 355 it is. 355 going once, going twice...going three times, sold for 355,000 Yen! Congratulations, you just won a date with Minami Kotori!”

Kotori smiled and waved at the winner in the back, making Umi wish she had bid along so she would be the one to receive her smile. But even if µ's was known on a national level now, they were still only school idols, which didn't come with as much wealth as adult super idols.

“I still don't think so,” Umi finally said, not looking at Maki because her eyes were following Kotori's figure as she walked to the back of the stage, showing a thumbs-up to Nico, who was next.

“I've got no reason to believe they're playing dirty. They're here today to support us after all, and clearing their busy schedule just for this event says a lot about them,” Umi said with an air of finality.

Maki sighed. Umi's calm and mature side only decided to show itself now. Too lazy to try to convince Umi otherwise, Maki crossed her arms and decided to follow the auction, rolling her eyes when Nico did her signature line and made everybody in the crowd chant it along with her.

Seeing that Maki had given up because a certain someone seemed to be more interesting right now, Eli decided to let things be for a moment, resorting to the role of a quiet observer. She had no reason to doubt Umi's capability of handling difficult situations, but the usually composed second year student was known to quickly lose her head as soon as embarrassment clouded her mind.

“Yazawa-san certainly knows how to please her fans,” Tsubasa remarked when Nico blew kisses into the crowd, prolonging the start of the auction because the audience wouldn't quiet down.

“As expected of Nico,” Eli said with a chuckle.

“Excessive,” Maki muttered, frowning because Nico had almost waved at every corner of the room except at her. Not that she wanted to be specifically noticed by her, but she thought that at least Nico would acknowledge her fellow µ's members in the first row.

As soon as the auction started, the bid jumped from zero to six figures, rising every second with every hand signal.

Unlike the other members who had been mostly quiet through the auctions, Nico actively participated in her own, waving at every fan who bid for her and cheering the people on to bid higher.

Umi and Eli were impressed by Nico's ability to stimulate the bidders to make them go further than they would have under any other circumstances. Soon, they were about to cross the 300,000 Yen line with no stop in sight, and Eli was becoming more and more worried about getting hit in the face with Maki's frantic hair twirling.

But the auction finally seemed to slow down after a minute, now it was only a competition between three different people who always chose to raise the bid close before the moderator could finish.

“335,000...going once....going … nowhere because it's 340,000 now!”

“Come on, is that all you've got for me?” Nico pretended to pout, her voice higher than usual. “If you really love Nico, now is the chance to show it! And I will show my gratefulness on our date.”

And her words achieved the desired result, several hands shooting up again, making the bid quickly pass the 350,000 line.

“She knows what she does,” Erena said, impressed.

“And she's the only one who can pull that off,” Tsubasa added with a chuckle. “It fits her.”

“365, 365 grand going once, going twice, going three ti-”

“400,000!”

The crowd gasped in unison and then fell silent. With stunned expressions, Umi and Eli stared up at Maki who had abruptly stood up from her seat, fiercely gazing at the girl on the stage, who looked just as baffled.

“400,000...” the moderator slowly said, furrowing his brows when he recognized Maki as a member of µ's. He tried to recall if there was a rule about own members not being allowed to bid, but these kind of auctions weren't traditional to begin with. There was no official guide book for celebrity auctions and it seemed like µ's had neglected to establish stricter rules about eligible bidders beforehand. He looked behind at the leader of µ's, hoping for some hint from her reaction because depending on an either disapproving or neutral expression, he would know how she felt about own members bidding for each other, and then he would decide accordingly.

But Honoka just gaped at Maki with an open mouth, neither really disapproving her action or welcoming it.

The moderator could feel the audience getting restless, so he made a quick decision. The consequence would be something µ's would have to deal with later, he was just doing his job. “400,000 Yen it is! Who offers more?”

But the last few bidders, who had been heatedly fighting just seconds ago, all shook their head. They had already been pretty much at their limit before, bidding out of pride than anything else, but now it was simply impossible for them to go any further.

“Then...400,000 going once, going twice, going three times! Sold! A date with Yazawa Nico goes to fellow µ's member Nishikino Maki! Congratulations.”

Maki sat down again, crossing her arms and ignoring the questioning gazes from both side. “I raised the overall value of µ's, didn't I, so shut up.”

Eli closed her eyes with a sigh and massaged her temples. Just minutes ago, Maki was just as concerned about not causing any negative headlines, but now had given the media a perfect opportunity to sniff into their private lives. Eli could already see magazines speculating about an illicit affair between Nico and Maki.

Though thinking similar to Eli, Umi couldn't say she blamed Maki. She somehow understood her motivation after having witnessed people fighting over a date with Kotori. Now she could only hope that Maki's action wasn't going to have lasting aftereffects on µ's. Umi made a mental note to text everybody after the auction for an emergency meeting because they needed to discuss which excuse they were going for in front of the press.

Still trying to process what had happened, Nico kept staring at Maki with wide eyes, not making any moves to leave the front of the stage. Only when Rin tipped her on the shoulder did she seem to sober up, and she slowly walked to the back of the stage, all the while shooting glances at the first row in the audience.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Erena quietly said, her words only meant for her fellow A-Rise members to hear, but Umi had been able to snatch it up.

“Is it?” Tsubasa said, not sounding surprised at all.

“It was actually predictable.” Anju grinned. “They really are fun.”

Umi stopped listening at this point. She didn't understand what Maki and Eli were so suspicious about, A-Rise was surprisingly down to earth and genuinely nice. Being on friendly terms with them would benefit µ's more than treating them like rivals. Umi wished she could be more open about wanting to befriend them, but she still felt socially awkward most of the times, and up until now, all she had done in the interactions between her and A-Rise was stuttering ungracefully.

“If you are mad, just say so,” Maki suddenly said, pretending to be indifferently watching Rin waving at the crowd while she was actually fighting to keep her expression blank.

Eli and Umi shared a look behind Maki's head.

“We're not mad,” Eli said with a sigh. “There probably would have been a better solution, but what's done is done. All we can do now is see what happens next and keep the damage in check.”

“You don't have to go easy on me.” Maki lowered her head. “I gave myself away, didn't I.” Her voice became small. “You actually feel pity for me because you think I'm just a fool who can't control her emotions.”

“Far from it,” Umi disagreed, offering Maki a sincere smile when the first year student faced her with a vulnerable and insecure look. “You actually control your emotions too well, Maki, and we rarely know how you feel. But when you play the piano or sing, you show us all the emotions we usually don't get to see, and we know in those moments that you are happy. And now you have one more thing besides music to be passionate about, how could we be angry about this?”

“Umi...”

“That's right.” Eli squeezed Maki's leg. “µ's will stick together. Always have, always will.”

Being supported from both sides made Maki feel strong and invincible; she no longer cared about what the magazines might have to say as long as she had her friends to stand behind her.

She gave both Umi and Eli a small smile. “I'll remember that. Thank you, Eli, Umi.”

Her upperclassmen smiled back at her, glad that they could get through to her which wasn't always an easy task.

“On a side note,” Eli suddenly said, “did you just spend 400,000 Yen for a date with someone you argue with every day?”

Maki grimaced. “Papa's going to kill me.”

\------

**TBC**

 


	2. Going Twice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time on Love Live!:
> 
> µ's holds a date auction without Soldier Game Trio, A-Rise is there too and Maki is too gay to function, bidding for Nico in the heat of the moment because she has a big lesbian crush on her... no i didn't watch mean girls last night what do you mean

_"On a side note," Eli suddenly said, "did you just spend 400,000 Yen for a date with someone you argue with every day?"_

_Maki grimaced. "Papa's going to kill me."_

Since Umi and Eli didn't know Maki's father well enough to be able to judge how much truth was in that statement, they placated her with awkward pats on the shoulder. "Why don't we just...focus on the auction right now and worry about that later."

Looking up at the stage again, they noticed that Rin's turn had long begun and that the bid was around 300,000 Yen by now. The first year student would do a small excited jump every time someone increased the bid, she could hardly stand still on her feet.

"Adorable," Anju said with a giggle, startling Umi who had forgotten about her presence altogether. "Almost makes me want to bid too."

"Why don't you," Erena challengingly asked.

"Oh, you know I don't like it when you're all sulky," Anju chuckled, giving her fellow group member a flirty wink.

"Guys, not here," Tsubasa drily said.

Umi held her breath, suddenly feeling her heart pounding fast. Was it what she thought it was? Could it be that even A-Rise had a secret no magazine should ever know about?

"Sonoda-san?"

"Yes!" Umi stiffly replied, a little bit too loudly because the moderator turned to her in confusion, thinking she had made a bid. But when he didn't see a raised hand, he turned back to the general audience.

Umi let out a sigh of relief, but tensed up again when Anju asked her, "Are you okay? I noticed you shivering."

"No, I'm fine, thank you for asking."

Umi cleared her throat and took a deep breath to cool her head. She had to stop being nervous around A-Rise or she was going to create a false image of herself. She didn't want them to think that she was always like this, so easily embarrassed and shy, she wanted to project more of her calm and collected side. Wanting to prove that she wasn't as socially awkward as she seemed, Umi straightened her posture and turned to Anju.

"Um, Yuuki-san-"

"Please, Anju."

"Then...please call me by my first name too," Umi managed to somewhat calmly say, feeling herself getting braver. "I was rude not to offer it in the first place, please excuse me."

"That's fine, I like your last name," Anju smiled, "but your first name is cute too. Then, Umi-san, what is it that you wanted to say?"

"Er, yes, about that autograph, are you still interested in getting one from me?" Umi began, suddenly feeling two pairs of eyes boring into the back of her head.

"Why, of course," Anju questioningly replied, surprised that Umi still remembered.

"As soon as the auction is over, I will head backstage and search for an appropriate medium to sign." Umi was quite proud of herself when she managed to say all that without stuttering.

Anju noticed the µ's member visibly putting effort into the conversation, trying to overcome her shyness this way. ' _So cute_ ' was the only thing she thought in that moment but didn't say because she didn't want to discourage Umi, who would only get flustered again at a direct compliment. "That is very thoughtful of you, thank you. But I just thought of something even better than an autograph."

And she pulled out her phone. "How about your number, Umi-san? This way, we don't always have to rely on Tsubasa or Kousaka-san for communication between A-Rise and µ's."

A bit overwhelmed by the unexpected suggestion when she had just been waiting for a 'yes thank you', she stared at the phone in Anju's hands for a few seconds before she reacted.

"Y-yes, of course," she quickly said, fumbling in her blazer pockets for her phone. She could still feel Maki's and Eli's gazes on her, and a ticklish sensation ran down her spine. She wanted to tell them to stop staring, but instead pulled out her phone and gave it to Anju.

Umi watched slender fingers with purple nails swiftly tapping on the phone screen, entering a series of digits before they hit dial, and Anju's phone screen lit up with Umi's phone number.

"There you go," and Anju handed her phone back. Lowering her voice and tilting her head towards Umi, she added, "Tsubasa is such an unreliable and biased source when it comes to µ's, but I'm sure you've already noticed that. This is why I feel so much better now that I have your number, Umi-san."

Though Umi's cheeks were tinged red, she managed to calmly say, "I'm glad I could be of help. It's the least I can do."

"So polite," Anju dreamily sighed, turning to Erena. "It's been a while since you treated me like that, Erena-chan."

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Erena replied, frowning in confusion.

"You always tease me about my weight," Anju complained with a pout. "You know I'm sensitive about that, but you still poke my belly at every dance practice."

Umi wasn't quite sure if she was still allowed to listen in on them now that the conversation had taken a different turn. It felt too private for her to be a part of this but at the same she was too intrigued by the relation between them to stop listening.

"If you're going to wear a crop top to our dance practices then I might as well enjoy it."

"Guys," Tsubasa impatiently inserted, but got ignored.

"So you enjoy pinching my belly fat? Maybe I should go on a diet..."

"You've gotten the wrong impression," Erena was quick to correct her, "you're perfectly fine the way you are. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel self-conscious about your weight, I didn't mean to. And I will be more considerate from now on."

"Erena-chan..." Anju sounded happy. "Could you stop the tickle attacks then?"

Erena thoughtfully hummed for a second, then, "No. You're too cute."

"Guys!"

A-Rise finally fell silent after Tsubasa's second warning.

Umi didn't quite know how to feel about the conversation she had just overheard because she had witnessed a completely new and different side of A-Rise. She wanted the rest of the members in µ's to know of this too, but she also wanted to keep it a secret to protect A-Rise.

"Umi," came quietly from her right side, and Umi jerked her head towards Maki, who was frowning at her. "What do you think were you doing just then, exchanging numbers?"

"I'm social-networking for µ's?"

"Sure," Maki muttered, before she got serious. "I don't trust her. Her eyes always look like they're undressing someone."

"Maki!" Umi hissed, aghast. "You can't judge her from looks alone. Besides, doesn't Nozomi have similar eyes?"

"That just proves my point, you know Nozomi isn't the pure shrine girl she sometimes looks like."

"What about Nozomi?" Eli joined the conversation at hearing her best friend's name being mentioned.

"That she's been in love with you for years," Maki said in a completely serious tone, choosing to prank Eli because she was annoyed that Eli only now decided to participate in their discussion when Nozomi's name was dropped.

Umi stared at Maki in disbelief, wondering why she would do such a cruel thing.

"W-what, wait, Nozomi?" Eli stuttered in shock, her eyes widening. "How – how do you know? Who else knows? Am I the only one who doesn't? What did she say?"

"Nothing. She said nothing because I lied. We weren't talking about Nozomi. Well, not directly."

Maki somewhat regretted doing this to Eli because she realized her joke had been of poor taste. She wouldn't want anyone to joke with her about her loved one either, giving her false hope only to crush it few seconds later.

Eli's face went through the expressions of shock, disappointment, embarrassment and hurt before they settled on anger. "Maki..."

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry, that wasn't funny," Maki admitted, now feeling really bad because she had hurt Eli's feelings. Also, Umi's reproachful gaze wasn't helping either.

Eli seemed to be too upset to actually reply to that, her jaw all tense and shoulders stiff when she pretended to pay attention to the auction again. She had just missed the end of Rin's auction; the first year student cheerfully waved to the crowd and bowed deeply in thanks.

Maki hated feeling all this guilt lasting heavily on her shoulder, she wanted to do something that would free her of those bothersome emotions. "Ne, Eli, what if I tell you that it wasn't completely a lie?"

Eli's body turned rigid, but she forced herself not to react rashly. "I don't believe you."

"You don't have to. It's still true," Maki quietly said. She wanted to add more but paused when Nozomi walked to the front of the stage, replacing Rin. The third year student smiled coyly, waving at the audience, to which the fans reacted wildly with screams and shouts. When Nozomi spotted Eli, she waved at her too, but in a shy manner where she barely raised her hand. Eli's troubled expression was gone in an instant, her face relaxed and she softly gazed back at her best friend with a small smile.

"She does love you, you know."

Eli's smile faltered. "Even if you say that, I won't believe it until she is the one to tell me so."

"How stubborn," Maki sighed.

"I don't want to hear that from you," Eli replied with a weak chuckle. "You can't even tell Nico that you like her."

"That's...that's something completely different," Maki defensively said. "Also, this isn't about me. Even Umi is too blind to notice what's really going on in front of her. I can't believe you two are my upperclassmen."

"What about me?" Umi asked in confusion.

Maki let out a quiet groan in frustration. She decided to cut to the chase. "You like Kotori, don't you?"

Frozen stiff, Umi panicky thought about denying it but her words got stuck in her throat when she met Maki's eyes, seeing no bit of curiosity or anticipation in them at all. She already knew. There was no point in lying anymore. Seemed like everybody's secrets were out.

Umi lowered her head and slowly nodded.

"Then what are you doing with...her," and Maki subtly nodded to Anju, who was laughing at something Erena had said.

Umi had learned from her mistake and refrained from turning around to see who Maki meant, instead logically deducing that she was most likely talking about Anju.

"I'm not sure I understand," Umi replied in confusion. "What do my...feelings for Kotori have to do with A-Rise?"

"Wow, okay," Maki turned to Eli in exasperation, hoping to get her help in talking some sense into Umi, but Eli was no longer approachable for talking. The blonde was nervously following Nozomi's auction, restlessly shifting in her seat as the bid grew higher and higher, her hands tightly gripping her chair as if she was stopping herself from raising them.

"265 grand, 270 - and two hands over there, 280, nope not anymore, 285...which is also a thing of the past, we're now at 290,000!"

Eli's left eye twitched every time someone new raised the bid.

Maki turned back to Umi again. "Change of plans, we have a new priority. We have to make sure Eli doesn't bid for Nozomi or today's auction will really end in a disaster."

Maki's serious tone evoked Umi's focused side, and the second year student nodded without hesitation. Both decided to halt their previous conversation for the time being.

"Eli," Maki nudged the girl to her right, but she got no reaction. "Eli! I know what you're thinking. You can't."

"But you did too," Eli replied without thinking, not taking her eyes off Nozomi, who seemed to have noticed Eli staring at her. She smiled at her and mouthed 'Elichi' with a wink.

Maki could almost observe Eli's resolve not to bid taking a critical hit.

"It's because I already did something so dumb that you can't too," Maki said through gritted teeth, not happy to be reminded of her mistake that was probably going to cost her a lot more than just money. "Don't make the same mistake, µ's can't take a second scandal."

"Listen to Maki," Umi urgently said, joining Maki's attempts to calm Eli down. "She's absolutely right. Eli, please act as the rational upperclassman we know, you were the Student Council President for two years!"

"I could use my college funds," Eli muttered to herself, "I could take that modeling job that they've been wanting me to do forever."

"We lost her," Maki groaned. "Umi?"

"I'm afraid we have no other choice," Umi gravely said. "We have to physically restrain her."

"But that's going to make it obvious that she wants to bid!"

Umi raised an eyebrow. "More obvious than when she actually bids?"

Maki blinked once, then, "So what do I do?"

"Holding her hands should suffice for now."

"This is ridiculous," Maki muttered, but still did as she was told, reaching for Eli's fidgeting hands.

"Maki?" Eli questioningly looked down on her fingers intertwined with Maki's. "What's the meaning of this?"

"You'll be thanking me when it's over," Maki grumpily said. "Just stay still."

Eli wanted to further question about the reasoning behind this when the moderator shouted, "385,000! 385,000 going once!"

"Nozomi," Eli breathed, getting even more restless because her best friend wasn't looking at her, instead expectantly gazing at the moderator and waiting for him to finish the auction.

Maki tightened her grasp on Eli's twitching hands. Umi nervously stared between Eli and the moderator, wishing he would end the auction faster.

"385,000 going twice!"

Eli had begun to struggle against Maki's grip. "Bibi will soon release a new single, I'm sure the royalties will be enough to pay that off..."

"Eli!" At this point, Maki was fighting to keep the blonde's hands down.

"385,000 going three times!"

"Wai -mpf!"

Umi had clamped her hand in front of Eli's mouth just in time.

"Sold! Congratulations, your date will be with Tojo Nozomi! Lucky winner, hold up your number!"

Eli slumped down in her seat, no longer on edge. On the contrary, all energy seemed to have left her body. "Nozomi..."

Maki slowly let go of Eli's hands and shared a worried glance with Umi. She could only imagine what Eli was feeling right now. Even if Maki regretted putting µ's into a difficult situation with her rash action earlier, she didn't regret bidding for Nico. Because at least she knew she was going to be the one on a date with her, and no one else. No stranger, no possible pervert or worse, a charming millionaire. Unlike Eli, Maki didn't have to deal with the unknowing or the helplessness.

"Hey," Maki quietly said. "I'm sorry."

Eli slowly shook her head. "No, you've done the right thing. Thank you."

"Eli, I'm sure Nozomi wouldn't want you to feel troubled about this," Umi said.

At the mention of her best friend's name, Eli looked up at the stage again, but Nozomi was already heading to the back of the stage, leaving the spotlight for Honoka to take.

"You know you can trust Nozomi," Umi said, being able to empathize more than Maki because she too had to accept the fact that her loved one was going to go on a date with a stranger. "The date will mean nothing. It's natural for an idol to spend a lot of time with strangers."

"Umi's right," Maki continued, "you should believe in Nozomi more. You are worrying too much."

"Easy for you to say," Eli sighed, raising an eyebrow at Maki. "You got your date with Nico."

Maki flushed and turned her face away. "I was just trying to cheer you up."

"I know," Eli breathed out, not really blaming Maki for any of this. "Argh, I was so stupid, I should've listened to my gut feeling. I should've stopped Honoka when I had the chance."

The three of them turned their head to the stage to gaze at the person who instigated all of this.

Energetic and cheerful as ever, Honoka greeted the audience by waving with her whole arm, then clenched her fist and told everybody to fight on.

"Honoka's ideas usually tend to have unfortunate side effects," Umi grimly said. "I always think I should be used to it by now, but every time I'm proven wrong."

The other two could only hum in agreement.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your last chance to bid for a date with a member of µ's!" The moderator announced. "How much will Kousaka Honoka be worth? Let's find out together in 3, 2, 1...go!"

"300,000."

Umi, Maki and Eli simultaneously turned their head to the left, staring at the A-Rise leader who had calmly raised her hand. Despite not being surprised at all about Tsubasa bidding for Honoka, they couldn't refrain from looking at her in disbelief because of the high initial bid.

Unsettled by Tsubasa's participation and the huge price surge, the auction hall had fallen silent. Even the photographers forgot to take pictures, more interested in finding out what was going on.

But the one who was affected most was by far Honoka. At first stunned about Tsubasa's generous bid, she slowly came to realize that this was her favorite idol bidding for a date with her. Kira Tsubasa, leader of nationally successful school idol group A-Rise, had come to bid for her and she seemed to be intent on winning if her high starting bid was anything to go by.

Honoka touched her cheeks, wondering when they had gotten so warm.

The moderator cleared his throat, visibly uncomfortable about the tense silence in the auction hall. "Seems like this will be a fast one," he jokingly said. "From zero to 300,000, let that roll over your tongue, people. Can anyone keep up?"

Someone in the back confidently shouted, "320,000!" to which someone else in the middle replied, "340,000!"

"400,000."

Without even needing to shout, Tsubasa had managed to silence the auction hall once again, including the moderator who neglected his job of animating the bidders to participate, instead staring at Tsubasa, wondering what the point of this auction was when friends and acquaintances were bidding for a date with someone they saw regularly. There was going to be an uproar among fans tomorrow, he was sure of it.

"I think you could have at least given Kousaka-san's fans a chance to dream," Erena said with a sigh. "You're too obvious about her."

Umi, who had overheard this, secretly agreed. The magazines were going to have a field trip about today's events. And Honoka's reaction wasn't helping at all, she looked far too flustered to be able to blame her red cheeks on the warm temperature in the auction hall.

"What is she doing..." Maki muttered. "She's creating the perfect gossip."

"And it doesn't seem like she cares." Eli somewhat had to respect Tsubasa for being so bold. If she herself could only be more honest about her feelings for Nozomi, maybe her boldness would get her somewhere. But despite playing the strong character she wanted everybody to see her as, she didn't think there was a bigger emotional coward than herself. Aware of her feelings but unwilling to accept them or even act on them, she pursued dreams that weren't her own so when she failed, it didn't feel like the world ending to her.

Eli shook her head, not wanting to think about this, now wasn't the time. Or ever. She forced herself to follow the auction again, but it seemed like the moderator had almost nothing to say anymore.

"Er, 400,000 seems to be the new status," he slowly said. "Anyone?"

A second of silence, then, coming from somewhere on the right side of the room, an insecure voice offered, "410,000?"

"500,000."

The three µ's members sitting in the first row sharply inhaled, along with the rest of the audience.

"How merciless," Erena drily commented.

Tsubasa shrugged. "I came to win."

"My, my," Anju breathed with a giggle, "you're taking all the fun, Tsubasa. Also, I think you broke Kousaka-san."

Indeed, Honoka didn't seem like she was able to do much right now, let alone react. Completely frozen, she stared at Tsubasa with wide eyes, her mouth open in shock.

"Well, now I feel less stupid," Maki muttered. "No one's going to write about me when they can write about A-Rise." She genuinely felt a little bit relieved at that.

Both Umi and Eli weren't quite ready to reply yet, still trying to understand what was going on inside of Tsubasa's mind that made her so careless. Didn't she care about her image at all? Or did she believe that it wouldn't affect A-Rise's reputation, completely confident about their pole position in the school idol world being stable enough to last a scandal or two?

"Um," the moderator cleared his throat. "500,000 Yen would be the current bid then. Does...anyone think they can offer more?"

It was dead silent in the room.

"Then...500,000 going once, going twice, going three times, sold! Congratulations, you will be on a date with Kousaka Honoka."

Tsubasa crossed her arms with a triumphant smile.

Erena glanced at her watch. "Congratulations, Tsubasa, you just spend 500,000 Yen in less than one minute."

"Didn't expect any less from our leader," Anju said in amusement.

Anju and Erena might have expected this, but the rest of the audience hadn't. Now that the auction for Honoka was over, it was official that Tsubasa had bid half a million Yen for her. The noise level in the auction hall quickly rose with everyone starting to wildly discuss about what just happened, expressing their disbelief and surprise.

"Um, this concludes today's auctions," the moderator tried to talk over the noise, but nobody listened to him anymore. Still, he had a job to do, so after glancing at one of his last cue cards, he weakly continued, "Thank you for participating and bidding along. The money will be donated for good causes, and for that, µ's would like to express their thanks. Let's hear it from Kousaka Honoka-"

The spot where Honoka used to stand was empty and the moderator found himself gesturing to nothing. "- or not." He turned around just in time to see Honoka staggering away, disappearing to backstage.

Maki smacked her palm against her forehead, her fingers digging into her hair. "What the hell is she doing?"

"This is bad," Eli anxiously mumbled.

Umi didn't dare to look behind at the crowd that was getting more and more noisy.

"My, my," Anju breathed, her gaze wandering around the room, watching agitated fans becoming more vocal about their discontent over the outcome of the auction. "I think you need to prepare a long apology for Kousaka-san, Tsubasa."

"You mean for everyone in µ's," Erena corrected.

Tsubasa dismissively waved with her hand. "Our assistant will handle that."

"Then it's time our assistant gets a raise."

People began shouting in anger, throwing accusations into the room about how unfair the whole auction had been, because they only had six candidates of µ's to bid on to begin with and now lost two of them to other idols.

Overwhelmed by the strong reactions and not used to dealing with critique, the moderator helplessly fumbled with his cue cards, knowing full well that he wasn't going to find a card that told him what to do in this situation, but trying anyway because he had been driven into a corner.

"Everyone, please!"

Nozomi had run to the front of the stage and raised one arm to get the audience's attention. "Please!"

At the sight of a µ's member calling out to them, the fans quietened down, temporarily forgetting their anger because they were more curious about what one of their favorite idols had to say.

"One year ago, when I came up with name 'µ's' for our idol group, I never imagined to one day see it printed in big letters on magazines and posters. But miracles do exist and this is why we are here today," Nozomi said, putting a hand over heart. "My cards told me that something good will happen if µ's was formed by us nine, but they could've never prepared me for this. Every day is like a gift to us, seeing you fans love us so much. We love that you love us."

Umi and Maki looked around, seeing that most fans had calmed down. Eli gazed up at Nozomi like she was facing a deity.

"I'm often told that I have the role of the supporter in µ's, and I do try to guide everyone with advice and hints where I see fit. But µ's' biggest supporter are our fans now and they give our members much more strength than I alone ever could." Nozomi smiled, extending her arms to the audience. "Your support is everything to us. You being here is proof of it, and we couldn't be more happy. I understand that some of you are upset over not being able to show it directly on a date, but please know that we have acknowledged your feelings and that we have seen you fight for us."

"Nozomi," Eli breathed, looking as starstruck as the rest of the room. Impressed by Nozomi's speech too, Maki didn't bother to tease the blonde for looking so lovesick.

Nozomi placed both of her hands over her heart. "Your feelings reached us and now it's time for our feelings to reach you too. But it can only happen if you open your hearts and let us in. Even if you couldn't win an auction today, we don't want you to leave this place feeling sad. Every single one of you has contributed to something great today because the money will go to people in need. And we can't thank you enough for that, but we will try. So..."

Nozomi paused when she suddenly found Nico and Kotori standing to her left and Rin and Hanayo standing to her right. Nico nodded to her and took her left hand. Rin did the same to her right hand. The five of them linked hands and took a deep breath.

"So in the name of µ's," Nozomi began, and then the other four joined her, "thank you very much!"

And together they bowed deeply, closing their eyes and hoping for the best.

The only ones to clap at first were A-Rise, and their claps echoed awkwardly in the auction hall. But the three µ's members sitting next to them quickly followed their example, and soon the first two rows were clapping along as well. Slowly, one by one, more people came to accept the outcome of the auction and clapped for the five school idols onstage. Gradually, the room became lively with positive atmosphere again, and the negative was pushed into the background.

"Nozomi," Eli breathed in relief.

Both Umi and Maki leaned back in their chairs, the tension leaving their body. "That was a close one."

The five school idols onstage couldn't believe their luck when they looked up to find everyone clapping for them, cheering them on again. Excited, Rin tightly embraced Nozomi from the side, affectionately rubbing her cheek against her while Nico lightly bumped her fist against Nozomi's arm as a way of saying 'well done'. Kotori and Hanayo held hands while facing each other, happily bouncing on their feet.

The moderator wiped at his sweaty forehead, looking forward to leaving this stage and taking a day or two off.

"So...where did Honoka run off to?" Maki asked when she remembered that their leader was missing onstage.

"That's what I'd like to know too," Umi darkly said. "Leaving at such an important time. If it weren't for Nozomi...I don't even want to imagine an alternative ending."

"But that surprised me," Maki said as an afterthought. "I didn't expect Nozomi to be the one to step up. Ne, Eli, wouldn't that have been your call?"

Eli slowly shook her head, replying with a weak smile, "Nozomi has always been the more levelheaded one between the two of us."

"Now that you say it," Umi thoughtfully said, "it does seem true."

"Honestly, none of this would have happened if it weren't for..." Maki trailed off, choosing to show who she meant by glaring at Tsubasa. "I knew they were trying to ruin us."

She hadn't said it quiet enough though; Anju had overheard most of it and understood that Maki was blaming Tsubasa for everything that had happened after Honoka's auction. She wanted to apologize on behalf of her friend, but she was interrupted by the moderator.

"The winners please report to the front desk to confirm their bid and to choose a method of money transfer. Further information about time and location regarding the date will be given there. As a reminder, the autograph session with Ayase Eli, Sonoda Umi and Nishikino Maki will begin in half an hour. Thank you very much and have a good day."

And he quickly left the stage, almost tripping over his feet in his hurry to get away.

The five µ's members onstage decided it was time to leave too, waving at the crowd one last time before they walked off and disappeared backstage.

"Let's go," Eli said and stood up. "I want to meet the rest before we get busy again."

Maki hummed in reluctance, not really eager to face a certain black-haired girl. "You guys go ahead, I first have to go to the front desk anyway."

"Can you even pay it off right away?" Eli asked her.

"Well, Papa gave me a credit card for emergencies," Maki muttered, cringing at the thought of having to explain to him how she managed to pour 400,000 Yen down the drain. "Probably not the kind of emergency he imagined, but it will have to do."

Umi and Eli weren't quite sure how rich the Nishikino family was, so they couldn't tell whether wasting 400,000 Yen was a big deal or not. Though they had the feeling that it probably wouldn't matter much, they knew that Maki was raised in a way not to throw money around, so she would still get some trouble for it.

"It will be fine, I'm certain of it," Umi encouragingly said, putting a hand on Maki's shoulder. "We are starting to earn our own money too. Once Bibi's new single is released, I believe it shouldn't be too difficult to balance out that deficit. And don't forget that we're always here for you too."

Her words achieved the desired effect; Maki managed to shake off the doomed feeling that had been accompanying her ever since she made the bid for Nico. Her chest felt lighter too.

"Thanks, Umi," she quietly said with a small smile. "I'm going now. See you in half an hour."

Umi and Eli watched her walk off.

"Good job, Umi. I feel like this little crisis has only made us grow closer," Eli said, smiling. "I look forward to the day where Maki doesn't feel like she has to put up defenses around us anymore."

Umi lowly chuckled. "It will be sooner than we might think if Nico plays her cards right."

Letting out a short laugh, Eli replied, "Then let's hope for the best. Shall we go too?"

"You can go ahead, I want to say goodbye to A-Rise," Umi said, gesturing for Eli to go first.

It surprised the blonde that Umi voluntarily stayed behind to socialize, wondering how much she had missed by not sitting directly next to her. Did A-Rise, specifically Anju, get that much closer to Umi that the latter one felt comfortable enough to initiate conversation now?

Like Maki, Eli was still suspicious of Anju's true intentions. But her desire to see Nozomi again outweighed by far and it didn't take her long to decide. "Then, see you later."

Umi nodded, watching her walk off.

"You didn't have to do that," Anju said behind her, having heard the part where Umi said she'd stay for A-Rise.

Upon turning around, Umi noticed that Tsubasa was no longer standing with them, most likely at the front desk too.

"It would be rude to leave without a word," Umi answered, "I actually should be apologizing for my friends' behavior."

"That is alright," Erena waved her off, "after the stunt Tsubasa pulled off, I expected you to stop talking to us."

"She sometimes acts so unreasonable," Anju added with a sigh. "We're sorry you had to see that side of her today. But as soon as she has her sights set on something, there's no way to talk her out of it. Believe me, we tried."

"You don't have to apologize," Umi said, feeling sympathy since Honoka too was difficult to convince otherwise once she had a specific goal in mind. "Our leader is exactly is the same."

"Speaking of, I hope Kousaka-san is alright? She didn't look so well to me," Anju said, frowning. "Or maybe Tsubasa finally scared her off."

Umi still wasn't too happy about Honoka abandoning her duty when she had been needed the most, leaving Nozomi to prevent a disaster from happening. "She will manage."

"Then, Umi-san, we don't want to take up more of your time, I'm sure you need the break. Thank you for everything today, it was a pleasure."

And Anju pulled Umi in for a hug, causing the other girl to stiffen up because she wasn't used to close physical contact with people she didn't know well. She awkwardly patted Anju on the back and when her eyes met Erena's, she quickly pulled away.

"Sonoda-san," Erena said with a polite but reserved nod, offering her hand. Umi took it and suppressed a grimace at the strong handshake. "Until we meet again."

As soon as the two A-Rise members turned around, Umi held up her right hand just to see all the blood rushing back into it.

* * *

Maki tucked her credit card back into her wallet, sighing deeply. She had to think of a way to tactfully tell her parents, she couldn't take the risk of letting them know through gossip magazines. Her father's reaction worried her more than her mother's; her mother would probably let her be after a scolding or two, after having lectured her on the importance of correct money management. She had a feeling that her mother wouldn't go so far to ask her about her intentions behind bidding for a date with Nico. Good mothers always knew.

Maki shivered. She didn't want to know what her mother thought she knew about her daughter's love life. Why couldn't she have spent 400,000 Yen on something more easily explainable, something that she could advocate in front of her parents without feeling embarrassment eating her up?

"Maki-chan."

She dropped her wallet in shock at hearing the voice of the only person she wasn't ready to face right now.

Nico bent down and picked up the wallet, offering it to the girl who lost it. "Here."

"Th-thanks," Maki mumbled, not daring to look up as she took back her wallet.

If Nico wasn't feeling sheepish herself, she would have loved to tease an embarrassed Maki, but now could hardly stay calm herself. "So...400,000 huh?" she awkwardly said, fumbling with the hem of her pink cardigan.

"Look," Maki took a deep breath, "I don't know why I did it and I get it if you're not...Anyway, we don't have to go on that...date. Let's just – forget about it."

"I can't do that."

"Eh?"

Nico looked to the side, her voice becoming smaller, "You spent 400,000 for that date. Wouldn't it be unfair if you didn't get it?"

"I-I," Maki hated her cheeks for betraying her by turning red, "I did it for charity. And I raised the overall value of µ's, so don't think too much into it."

A hurt look crossed Nico's face before she growled, "Maaaki-chaaan..." and she reached up to pinch Maki's cheeks, stretching her skin. "You're not being really honest, Maki-chan, why can't you just admit you wanted to go on a date with Nico?"

"It hurts, it hurts," Maki whimpered, grabbing Nico's hands and pulling them off her. "Fine! So what if I did?"

Stunned about the honest reaction, Nico stumbled a step backwards. She had only been teasing Maki, not expecting a confession. "Y-you did?"

Her face burning bright red, Maki refused to say any more. She had embarrassed herself enough today and all in front of the wrong person.

But her expression only made Nico realize that Maki was serious about her, and she suddenly felt her own cheeks heating up. "Oh."

Nico pulled at the sleeves of her pink cardigan until her hands were hidden, facing to the side. "I guess you deserve it since you won that auction fairly." She cleared her throat. "Anyway, you have a week to think of a plan. Make it worth my time."

Without waiting for a reply, Nico turned around and hurried away.

Staring after Nico until she was out of sight, Maki then looked down on her wallet in her hands. She had a feeling that those 400,000 Yen she had spent to get a date were just the beginning. "Papa's really going to kill me."


	3. Going Three Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time on Love Live!: 
> 
> Umi and Maki had to restrain gay ass Eli from bidding for Nozomi while Tsubasa didn't hide her gay ass and went all out on Honoka, also Erena turns out to be gay and kind of an ass to Umi while Nico discovers that Maki is gay for her ass

"Elichi?"

Eli turned around, her expression lighting up. "Nozomi. I've been looking for you."

"You were?" Nozomi smiled at her. "I'm sorry, I had a first meet with my future date."

"Oh." Eli's expression fell. She held her elbows as she struggled with herself over what to say next. Did she want to know what kind of person Nozomi was going to go on a date with or did she want to live in blissful ignorance? But that was hardly possible since she was going to find out sooner or later. "So...what are they like?"

Nozomi hummed in thought, tapping her fingers against her chin. "Unexpected," she concluded with a grin.

"Eh?"

"I don't judge my fans but I have to admit that I did expect a certain sort," Nozomi said with a sheepish smile. "You will see soon enough, Elichi."

If there was one answer that could have made Eli feel even more troubled, then it was this. "Why can't you just tell me?" she asked, crossing her arms. "Are you keeping a secret from me?"

"Why would I?" Nozomi said with a chuckle, winking at her. "It's a surprise, Elichi. Now, don't you have an autograph session to get to in five minutes?"

"Nozomi," Eli complained, her voice sounding whiny and childish even to herself. "You know I don't like surprises."

Nozomi took Eli's hand and squeezed it. "But you like me. So you'll have to bear this one like everyone else. See you later, Elichi."

And with a cheeky grin, Nozomi let go of her hand, waving her goodbye before she walked away, leaving behind a stiff and frozen Eli.

* * *

"Kotori, there you are," Umi said in relief after having finally found her standing by a water dispenser.

"Umi-chan!" Kotori greeted, a smile spreading on her face. "Did you have fun? Would you like some water?"

"Yes, please." Umi sighed. "I'm not sure if I could call that fun. Eli and Maki can be surprisingly troublesome."

While filling a paper cup with water, Kotori turned her head to her. "Why? What happened?"

"You didn't notice?" Umi asked with a frown. "When Maki bid for Nico?"

"Oh, that," Kotori replied, handing the full cup of water to Umi, who accepted it with a quiet 'thank you'. "It wasn't really surprising, don't you think?"

"So you too," Umi muttered into her cup before taking a sip.

Kotori tilted her head. "Hm?"

"Anju said something along those lines too," Umi explained, closing her eyes to enjoy the cool water running down her dry throat. In the seconds she wasn't looking at her best friend, she missed the sad look crossing her face.

"You two seem to get along well."

Umi rubbed her eyes, feeling a bit tired from the auction event that had used up more of her energy than expected. "You think so? I still believe I could have left a better impression. I don't want the relation between A-Rise and µ's to suffer after today."

Clenching her fist, Kotori wanted to reply but was interrupted by a voice calling out, "Umi, what are you doing? The autograph session is about to start."

Maki waved at Umi to get moving, and the latter one downed the rest of her water in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, I need to go now," she said to Kotori, wiping at her mouth. "I'll text you later?"

Mustering up a smile, Kotori nodded and took the empty paper cup from Umi's hands. "I'll throw this away for you. Have fun!"

"Thank you," Umi smiled, briefly touching her best friend's arm before she hurried to catch up with Maki.

"Umi-chan," Kotori mumbled, staring after her until she was out sight. Then glancing down on the paper cup in her hands, she was tempted to use her thumb to trace the rim that Umi's lips had touched. But she managed to control herself, instead crumpling the paper cup with a clench of her fist before she let it fall into a nearby trash can.

* * *

Now that the auction was over and the autograph event for the Soldier Game Trio had started, Rin, Hanayo, Nico, Kotori and Nozomi were technically free to go now. The five of them didn't feel like going home though, partly because they wanted to wait up for the three girls giving autographs, partly because they still hadn't found Honoka.

Nico put her hands on her hips and gazed at her fellow members with a stern expression. "Rin, Hanayo, you check the restrooms. Kotori and Nozomi will check the dressing rooms backstage and I will ask around if someone's seen a dumbhead stumbling around."

"Yes General," Rin did a salute like a soldier, then grabbed Hanayo's hand and dashed off on her quest to find Honoka.

"W-wait, Rin-chan, slow down," Hanayo squeaked behind her, barely able to keep up with her without tripping over her feet.

"Maybe we should try calling her again?" Kotori suggested, not convinced that they would find Honoka if they searched for her without a clue. Their leader was known to be quick on her feet, always at another place by the time other people got to where she originally had been.

"It's no use if that idiot doesn't pick up," Nico replied, shaking her head. "Also, could you please stop playing with your cards, Nozomi, they're not helping."

Nozomi raised an eyebrow, waving with a card between her index and middle finger. "But this one tells me to either give Nicochi a good breast rub or call Kira Tsubasa on her phone."

Nico flinched, taking a step back and crossing her arms in front of her chest on instinct.

Kotori's expression lit up. "Nozomi-chan may be right."

"I hope you're talking about the second part," Nico growled.

"Um, yes...that Honoka-chan might be with her."

Nozomi put away her card with a sigh. "Ignoring half of my card's advice will cause an imbalance."

"How does it help our situation if I let you touch my breasts?" Nico hissed in irritation, ignoring Kotori's nervous attempt to stop them, "Guys..."

"But how does it hurt our situation if you do?" Nozomi asked with a finger placed on her chin like she was pondering a profound question.

"Oh my god, how does Eli even put up with you," Nico groaned, massaging her forehead in frustration. "You, be quiet for a moment. Kotori, do you have Tsubasa-san's number?"

But Kotori shook her head, apologetic.

"Great. Our only lead but we don't have the means to follow it," Nico muttered, turning her back on them. "Let's go back to our original plan. I'm going to ask around."

"O-okay," Kotori said with a hesitant nod, turning to her upperclassman. "Nozomi-chan?"

"Seems like we have no choice but to follow Nicochi's plan," Nozomi sighed.

They split up and began searching for their leader, who had vanished without a trace.

* * *

"Honoka-chaaan," Rin called out, her voice echoing in the empty restroom.

"I – I don't think she's here," Hanayo stuttered, uncomfortable in the dimly lit restroom since half of the lights seemed to be broken, the other half flickering weakly.

Rin pinched her nose with her fingers. "You're right. No one could take this smell for long."

They left the restroom of the second floor again, both taking deep breaths of the fresh air outside.

"This is pointless," Rin complained, crossing her arms behind her head. "Let's head back, I'm getting hungry. I'm in the mood for ramen."

"You're always in the mood for ramen, Rin-chan," Hanayo pointed out with a smile.

"True," Rin agreed, suddenly jumping toward Hanayo and throwing her arms around her in a tight embrace. "And I'm always in the mood for you!"

"R- Rin-chan..."

* * *

So far, no one seemed to have seen Honoka since her appearance on stage, and Nico was getting more and more impatient, decreasingly interested in finding the µ's leader. She had other things to worry about, far more important things. Like her upcoming date with Maki.

Nico could feel heat crawling up her neck at the mere thought of her and she furiously scratched herself there, wanting to get rid of it. But her irritated skin burned only brighter, and she gave up, choosing to suffer in silence because taking off her trademark pink cardigan was not an option.

"Maki-chan..." she murmured to herself.

Of all the times to come clean with her feelings, that girl had to do it in front of a big audience with cameras and journalists working for gossip magazines. Even if it was one of Nico's dreams to be the headline of a magazine someday, she hadn't imagined it this way. She didn't want to be the center of a scandal, even less if it could drag down the entire group.

What also worried her was Maki's lack of ability to deal with press and interviewers nagging her about personal stuff. Her unwillingness to cooperate as soon as she felt offended would only worsen the whole situation and cause the scandal to spread. If it was only Nico, she would be able to smile it away, sweeping the whole thing under the rug in one day.

Feeling a little bit lost, Nico pulled at the sleeve of her cardigan. She couldn't say she wasn't happy about Maki finally being honest with for her, she only wished it would have happened under different circumstances. Preferably in a more private setting where they didn't have to fear the public's reaction to something that should only concern them two.

But that wasn't even one of Nico's biggest worries. Despite the tough exterior Maki usually put up, she was sensitive to criticism and would shut down as soon as her comfort zone was breached, which was a very weak zone. If she was going to be confronted by reporters and paparazzi about today's decision on a daily basis, she might break under the pressure and start resenting herself for losing control of her feelings, deciding to punish herself by distancing herself from Nico.

And that was the last thing Nico wanted. God knew it was difficult enough for them two to overcome their pride and talk to each other without biting each others' heads off. The last thing they needed was another barrier between them.

Nico wanted to pull at her hair in frustration, but that would have ruined her hairstyle. Needing to vent somehow, she kicked the nearest trash can, immediately regretting it when it turned out to be sturdier than it looked.

"Ow, ow, ow," she whimpered, jumping on one leg, "Argh, shi-"

She stopped in her movements when she spotted an old man who had watched her. Wanting to snarl at the person for gaping, she remembered that she had an idol persona to upkeep, so she gave him a sweet and innocent smile.

"Kids these days," the old man sighed, shaking his head before continuing his way. He hadn't recognized Nico, thinking he had walked in on a middle schooler throwing a tantrum.

Nico's smile turned sour but she refrained herself from pointing out who she was because she didn't need another headline about her kicking innocent trash cans.

"This is all Maki-chan's fault," Nico grumbled, glaring at the trash can who had dared to hurt her foot.

* * *

"Hmpf. Tsubasa isn't answering her phone," Erena muttered, narrowing her eyes at her phone. "How rare to witness her being so unreliable."

"Maybe she got held up by fans," Anju suggested, not too worried about their missing leader. "You know this happens all the time. And if there was any problem, she would have already called, so don't worry."

"I'm not worried about her missing," Erena replied, letting her phone slip back into the pocket of her blazer. "I'm worried about not getting the chance to yell at her before all hell breaks loose tomorrow."

"Now, now," Anju chuckled, "I'm sure it will be fine, Erena-chan. She seemed happy."

Erena crossed her arms, reluctant about going easier on the A-Rise leader. "She put our reputation at risk. She knows to be more careful than that."

"Well, love does make people do strange things, don't you think?" Anju asked with a glint in her eyes.

"Love?" Erena furrowed her brows. "Isn't it rather too soon to speak of love between Tsubasa and Kousaka-san?"

Anju hummed and pretended to think about it before she shook her head. "Would you spend half a million Yen on someone you only moderately like?"

This was a strong point that Erena couldn't deny.

"So when we see her again, don't be too hard on her, okay?" Anju said, winking. "After all, you wouldn't want anyone to criticize you for following your heart, would you?"

Uncomfortable that the topic had become about her, Erena looked away. "At least I would be able to control myself."

"Mhm, you never know. If the person you like is available for a date and the chance of rejection is close to zero, then I think not many would be able to resist."

Erena gave Anju a side glance. "Then if you had a chance to bid for me, would you do it even though we're already dating?"

Taken aback, Anju took a second to read Erena's expression to understand where that question came from. Erena wasn't one to fish for affirmation and it wasn't like she needed to; she was treated like a goddess in UTX, she could hardly walk five steps somewhere without her gushing fangirls giggling at the mere sight of her. Though all three members of A-Rise enjoyed a high popularity within their own school, it was Erena who had garnered the biggest following of admirers among her classmates, her appeal lying not only in her looks but also in her cool demeanor.

This was a fact that Anju had come to accept, and most of the time, she was happy for her girlfriend. But it wasn't always easy to smile for her when pretty girls fought for her attention, having her surrounded within seconds and shoving presents into her face. Anju couldn't even tell which emotion dominated in those moments; was it jealousy because she feared that Erena would leave her for a gorgeous fan or was it envy because she somewhat wished to be surrounded by beautiful girls too?

Up until now, Anju had assumed that those feelings were something only she had to endure. But to realize that this might not be one-sided let her heart beat faster.

"Of course I would have," she said, her voice soft and quiet.

Unconvinced, Erena remained stubborn about avoiding her gaze. "And what if Sonoda-san was an option too?"

"Umi-san? Why would I -" Anju stopped herself, her eyes widening when she finally understood where Erena's insecurity came from. "Erena-chan... could it be that you misinterpreted a few things I did today?"

Erena faltered. "No?"

"Oh, you dummy," Anju sighed with a smile, happy about seeing this rare side of Erena. "You know I only admire Umi-san in a professional way. Her lyrics never fail to move me. I was rather hoping that you two could get along and exchange tips on songwriting, this is why I asked for her number because I know you're too proud to do so. A collaboration between A-Rise and µ's would be exciting, don't you think?"

"Oh." Erena's shoulders relaxed and she turned to Anju again, though still avoiding direct eye-contact. "You could have told me beforehand."

"Why, would it have changed anything?"

"Maybe." Now Erena had to think of a way to apologize to Umi without further embarrassing herself.

Anju giggled at the uncertainty Erena displayed. "You and Umi-san are a bit alike, I can see why you felt threatened. But you know I only love you, Erena-chan."

"I did not feel threatened by her," Erena was quick to retort, but then paused, a faint blush covering her cheeks when she processed the latter sentence. "You better," she added in a quiet voice, grabbing Anju by the hand and pulling her closer until their faces were centimeters apart.

Gazing up at glimmering eyes, Anju giggled beneath her breath.

"Come here, you," she whispered, looping her arms around Erena's neck and standing on her toes to kiss her on the lips.

Both didn't mind if Tsubasa decided not to show up at all.

* * *

It seemed like sitting on a park bench and drinking coffee had become their thing. While Honoka kept her gaze down on her drink, taking a sip every few seconds which showed her nervousness, Tsubasa was the more relaxed one of them two, not feeling the need to busy herself with drinking coffee.

"While I do enjoy your presence, Kousaka-san, I was under the impression you led me out here to talk?"

Honoka coughed, pounding herself on her chest when she had choked on her coffee. "Y-yes," she managed to get out, remembering what she had wanted to do in the first place. She cleared her throat, placing aside her can of coffee. "It's because – I just don't understand..."

Tsubasa tilted her head. "Hm?"

"When you bid for me, I was really happy. But also confused because...I...I don't think I'm worth that much," Honoka admitted in a quiet voice, rubbing her neck in nervousness. "Besides being the leader, I don't have any special traits. I'm clumsy and forgetful and sometimes I lose sight of my weight-"

"Kousaka-san," Tsubasa interrupted her, facing her with a stern look. "Don't sell yourself short. µ's wouldn't be where it is today without their strong leader. And I'm sure all your members will agree."

Ducking her head to hide her blush, Honoka glanced down on her wringing hands. "Th – thank you. I guess I haven't looked at it that way."

Still sensing some insecurity left in Honoka, Tsubasa added, "If it's any consolation, I do think you are worth every Yen I spent on you today." She paused when she realized that her words had an ambiguous sound to it. "Well, you know what I mean."

Honoka put her hands on her cheeks to cover the bright red color of her skin. It had been a while since someone complimented her and she had no idea how to react to that. She blamed Umi for this, how was she supposed to develop a healthy self-esteem if all she ever heard from her was that she had gained weight again or that she had forgotten to do her Student Council work again. It was tough being both the leader of µ's and the Student Council President of Otonokizaka, why couldn't she get more praise for that?

Pouting for all of two seconds, Honoka released a breath with a quiet sigh. She didn't really blame Umi. She was just not a tactful or smooth person at all. But there was one thing she was good at.

"Alright!" She exclaimed, jumping up from the bench with new-found energy, startling Tsubasa with her sudden mood shift. Honoka turned to the A-Rise leader and clenched her fist in determination, doing her favorite pose that signaled her will to fight. "I, Kousaka Honoka, will give my best to make that date worth every Yen! Prepare to be blown away!"

"I – I..." Once Tsubasa realized that this was the Honoka she knew and loved, her surprise faded. She smiled at her. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

Honoka was sleeping in the Student Council Room when Umi marched in, holding a bunch of magazines in her arms, followed by a nervous looking Kotori.

"Honoka," Umi growled at the sight of her lazy friend who seemed to have no care in the world, her mouth twitching to smiles in her sleep as drool dribbled down her chin.

"Umi-chan," Kotori reached out a hand in a weak attempt to stop Umi from doing what she knew was coming next.

Umi raised the magazines in the air and let them drop next to Honoka's head, startling her awake in an instant. With a high-pitched scream, she fell off her chair.

"W-wha- hah?" Her eyes still glassy and confused from sleep, Honoka stared up at Umi, who was glaring down at her.

"Where were you yesterday?" Umi inquired, her tone accusing. "How could you run at such an important time? Do you know what almost happened if Nozomi didn't -"

"Umi-chan," Kotori interjected, trying to get her to go easier on Honoka, whose expression turned more and more into one of a wounded puppy. "We can't do anything about what already happened, why don't we move on?"

"Kotori, you're being too soft to her," Umi replied, though her tone was less harsh toward her. Then, turning back to Honoka, she knocked on the table where the magazines were spread out. "Now, please explain yourself."

Honoka sniffled and got up from the ground. "Umi-chan, you're so mean..."

Sensing that this comment was the wrong answer, Kotori was quick to put a hand on Umi's arm to keep her from grabbing one of the magazines, rolling it up and hitting Honoka's head with it.

"Why – why don't you first tell us where you were after the auction? We were all worried when we couldn't find you," Kotori said, not releasing her grip on Umi's arm in case the latter one would lose her patience. Which was in truth just an excuse for Kotori to touch her.

Honoka gave them a sheepish grin, rubbing her neck in embarrassment, "I met up with Tsubasa-san after the auction. I'm sorry, guys, I know I shouldn't have run, but it was just … a shock to me and I blanked out. And when I got back to my senses, all I could think about was why Tsubasa-san bid so much for me and I had to know. So I asked her to meet me."

"Why right after?" Umi questioned, not feeling as much sympathy as Honoka had hoped for. "You two are going to meet on a date anyway. Why couldn't it wait?"

"Oh," Honoka muttered. "I forgot in that moment." She looked up with a pout. "Oh, come on, Umi-chan, you know I don't think that far into the future, I just couldn't wait another day to know."

Umi's right eye twitched. Kotori sighed.

" _Honoka,_ I'm giving you  _three_  seconds to run because  _if_  I get you in my hands..." She didn't need to finish.

Honoka had sprinted off at the keyword 'run', knowing that Umi's wrath could be far more intimidating than her mother's or anyone else she had ever experienced.

Kotori sighed again. At least no one got hurt. "You shouldn't be too angry at her, Umi-chan. This is stressful for you too."

Walking to the windows in hopes that facing the clear blue sky would free her own troubled mind, Umi only saw her own frowning expression being reflected by the polished glass and she sighed.

"It's not like I want to be the one nagging, but if I don't, who else will?" She defended herself. "If you haven't read the headlines yet, then please do so, and then try to tell me I'm irrational for not worrying about Honoka."

After an unsure glance at Umi's back, Kotori turned her attention on the magazines. She picked up the first one. "Um...' _A-Rise And µ's Up For A Collaboration – In The Bedroom?_ ' Oh..."

Kotori could see why this headline would fill Umi with indignation, and she picked up a different one. "' _So Money Can Buy Love After All_ '." She gasped. "How terrible!"

"Right?" Umi hissed, pounding her fist against the window. "These people have no shame. I read that article, and the whole text is just a whimsical interpretation of all the previous encounters between Tsubasa and Honoka. But that's not the worst part – the worst part is that the fans are going to believe every word that's written in there! This could be the start of a disaster, and Honoka is taking everything way too lightly."

"So you've read them too," a tired voice inserted, and Kotori and Umi startled at Eli's sudden appearance in the Student Council room. Clamped beneath her arm, the blonde carried her own set of magazines, and she threw them on top of the others from Umi.

"' _Nicomaki Confirmed'_ ," Kotori read the first headline that caught her attention, which was a title in bold capital letters over a candid picture of Maki and Nico during a concert. They were standing next to each other with no sign of mutual acknowledgment in any way, not in the form of a glance nor a touch, but framing their picture was a large heart and several smaller hearts in red and pink.

"Confirmed?" Umi repeated in confusion. "Nico and Maki confirmed – what...? What did they confirm? That makes no sense."

"Just read the article," Eli gestured to the magazine.

"Kotori?" Umi asked, since the other girl was nearer to the magazines.

"Ah, yes," Kotori picked up the magazine and turned to the page where the article about Nico and Maki was printed. "Um...'Attention, dear Nicomaki fans, we have big news for you! As you all know, the hottest school idol group at the moment, µ's, held a date auction for the very first time yesterday and you won't believe the things that happened!  _Idol Daily_  followed everything up close and gathered hot information for you fans in hopes of living up to the title of the most trendy and up-to-date school idol magazine.'"

"If you don't mind skipping that paragraph, Kotori," Umi said, impatient to hear what all the fuss was about.

"Hm," Kotori skimmed the article until she found the main message, "'As the bid for Yazawa slowly came to an end, Nishikino did the one thing we were all secretly hoping for – she stood up for her girl and made the final bid, winning her back in one strike! 400,000 Yen was Nishikino ready to offer to protect her relationship. And how much is this information worth for us? Priceless.'"

Kotori stopped reading there because the rest of the text delved further into Nico's and Maki's non-existent romantic relationship, and she didn't think Umi wanted to hear more.

"I didn't know their fans viewed them like that..." Kotori said, somewhat fascinated.

"There's a lot about our fans that you don't want to know," Eli remarked in a dry tone.

Umi closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Are there any other headlines I should be aware of?"

"Hm, let's see...there's one more about Honoka-chan...and one about Maki-chan again...and one about..." Kotori trailed off when her throat dried up in an instant. Beneath a picture of Tsubasa and Honoka, placed in the bottom right corner as a side story, was a snapshot of Anju leaning against Umi and whispering in her ear with a coy smile. ' _Flirting, Flirting, Non-Stop We're Flirting_ ' was the small title. Kotori buried that magazine beneath the other ones. "No, those were the last ones."

"Good, we don't need more."

Silence engulfed the room as none of the three µ's members were in the mood to play Honoka's optimistic role of telling everyone that it would get better. They were all lost in their own troubled thoughts, they all had their own worries to quell.

"I'm going to archery practice," Umi said after a glance at the clock, remembering her other after school commitment besides dance practice. She walked over to the table decked with her and Eli's magazines, intending to throw them away on her way to the archery club, but Kotori scooped them up first.

"I will throw these away for you, Umi-chan," she said, mustering up a convincing a smile, "You go to your practice. And have fun!"

"Oh, thank you, Kotori," Umi smiled, feeling herself relaxing at the sight of a smiling Kotori. The wrinkle between her eyebrows disappeared, her shoulders felt lighter. "You always wish me to have fun while others tell me to do my best. This is how I know you always put me first." Starting to blush but not stopping here, Umi continued in a quieter voice, "I'm sorry if I have been too strict with you and Honoka lately, but you two are my best friends, and I don't want anything bad happen to you. I hope one day Honoka will understand too."

"Of – of course," Kotori replied, clutching the magazines with her arms, pressing them against her chest. "Not many can do that like you. You are a strong person, Umi-chan, and everybody can see that...it's very attractive to a lot of people."

"W-what are you saying," Umi stammered, her eyes avoiding Kotori's and then landing on the wall clock. "I have to get going now. I wish you to have fun for the rest of the day too."

And as she passed Eli on her hurried walk out of the room with her head ducked, she gave her a mumbled, "Have a nice day."

"Only nice?" Eli muttered, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head and sighed, turning to Kotori.

"So why did you hide it?"

Frozen in shock at being called out with no warning, the magazines slipped through Kotori's slack arms and scattered on the floor. One particular magazine came to a stop right at Eli's feet. It was the one covering Anju's and Umi's story.

"I...I..."

Kotori let herself fall on a chair, covering her face in her hands. "I don't know. Maybe I didn't want to put Umi-chan in a bad situation...or maybe I just didn't want to find out if it's true."

"Hey," Eli said quietly, walking over to the second year and putting her arm around her shoulder. "It shouldn't be my place to tell you but...if you ever decide to tell Umi how you feel about her, I can guarantee you that you will not be disappointed."

Looking up with vulnerable eyes, Kotori asked in a tiny voice, "Really? How do you know?"

"Er, let's say we had a lot of time to talk during the auction yesterday," Eli replied, trying to keep it as uncomplicated as possible. "And from the way she talked about you, I'm pretty sure you have nothing to fear. Trust me. Maki can attest to that too if you want."

Kotori wanted to believe her, but it was difficult not to doubt that statement if she hadn't been the one hear it from Umi herself. She couldn't imagine Umi confessing her romantic interest, couldn't imagine her talking about it with Eli and Maki because that was the same girl who would flush at any mention of a romantic topic. Even as children, when Honoka and Kotori had tried to talk about their crushes with Umi, the latter one would get flustered, and refuse to listen.

"Kotori," Eli gave her an encouraging smile. "Once the date event is over, why don't you give her a chance to prove your worries wrong?"

Her confident expression and tone managed to fight off some of Kotori's insecurity, and the younger girl released a long breath. For now, she was going to believe her.

She leaned against Eli, searching for comfort in the third year who often felt like a big sister to her. "I'm sorry, Eli-chan, I didn't mean to drag you into this. All I seem to do is depend on others."

"That's not true," Eli said with a head shake, squeezing Kotori in a gentle gesture, "and there's nothing wrong with relying on others once in a while. That's what friends are for. Actually, I would feel bad if you felt like you couldn't trust me, and I'm sure that's how Honoka and the others also feel."

Kotori answered with a shy nod.

Deciding to comfort the younger girl a little bit longer, Eli stroke her hair in a soothing manner and hummed a light melody. Doing this reminded her of comforting her little sister Arisa sometimes, and she suddenly felt aware of the big sister role she played for almost everyone in µ's except for Nozomi. Even Nico, who refused to be seen and treated as younger than her because of her looks, felt like a younger sibling to Eli so that her natural instinct to protect and tease her kicked in.

Being the older sister who offered comfort was a role she was used to and took with pride, but what if she was the one who needed words of encouragement and faith? She had always been judged as intelligent, talented and independent so no one had ever thought about asking her if she had weaknesses too. Pictured as a strong character, aloof at times, she had never been associated with the attributes of insecure and afraid. But that was exactly how she had been before she had joined µ's. Still sometimes was. And nobody seemed to think about her like that.

Except for Nozomi. She had seen through her right from the start. Had known when Eli hadn't been honest with herself, had been the one to call her out on not doing what she actually wanted. Though Nozomi didn't treat Eli as a fragile being either, she also knew she wasn't as tough as everyone believed, and she could understand the simple fact that Eli was human after all with her own little insecurities and fears.

If there was anyone Eli could talk to about her thoughts and troubles, then it would be Nozomi. But what if the only person able to offer a solution was actually the reason of the problem?

* * *

"Maki-chan...you look scary..."

Rin held on to Hanayo, who looked just as afraid of Maki's dark expression.

"M-Maybe you shouldn't keep reading," Hanayo suggested with a trembling voice, carefully reaching for the magazine in Maki's hands, but Maki reacted by sliding back with her chair to get out of range, her narrowed eyes not wavering from the double page feature on her and Nico's 'love story'.

"What should we do?" Rin whispered to Hanayo, nervous about their friend exploding in rage because she had been reading the magazine in silence for over ten minutes now though the article could be finished in five. This meant that she was still in the phase of processing the text, but once her brain understood that this was no illusion or a bad dream, Rin and Hanayo feared an uncontrollable reaction.

"I – I don't know," Hanayo flinched when Maki moved in her seat, feeling her gloomy aura grow with every second, "S-somebody save us..."

Maki slammed the magazine on the table and her two friends let out a startled scream.

"Maki-chan?"

Her face was bright red, whether from rage or embarrassment, Rin and Hanayo couldn't tell, but Maki seemed to be too overwhelmed to speak, staring at the magazine that had framed a picture of her and Nico with a heart.

"What the hell," she finally managed to press out between gritted teeth, "I don't get it at all. We're not even looking at each other in this picture. How did they find out that I -"

When she realized what she was doing, she stopped herself by biting herself on her tongue, grimacing at the pain. "Ow..."

But even without finishing her sentence, Rin and Hanayo didn't have to guess about what she had wanted to say. They shared a knowing look.

"Maki-chan, these kind of speculations are normal for idols," Hanayo said, trying to calm her down. "You can't let that get to you. I'm sure Nico-chan would tell you the same."

Maki's head jerked slightly at the mention of Nico's name, which didn't go unnoticed.

"That's right," Rin added quickly, having realized Maki's weak point, "Nico-chan would want you to be calm about it."

Maki let out a long breath and pressed the palm of her hands to her eyes, massaging them lightly. "Fine, I'm calm, I'm calm. I know it's not going to make a difference if I'm angry about it so I might as well accept it."

"That's the way to go, Maki-chan," Rin cheered. "You have other things to worry about anyway."

Alarmed by where this topic was heading, Hanayo wanted to signal Rin that changing the conversation into that direction wasn't a good idea, but the damage was done.

"Other things to worry about?" Maki scrunched up her face. "Like...?"

"Like your date with Nico-chan," Rin answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "What are you two planning to do?"

Hanayo held her breath.

"That's...that's none of your business," Maki spluttered, reacting far more agitated than she had been about the article in the gossip magazine.

Rin carefully watched Maki's flustered expression before she stated, "You don't have any plans yet, do you."

"Of course I have," Maki countered, more out of reflex than conviction because just like Rin had said, she hadn't been able to come up with anything for her date. Whenever she tried to sit down and organize something, she would find her own thoughts wandering off and keeping her from being productive.

She just wanted to pick a nice restaurant for them to dine at without thinking about how much better Nico's cooking tasted. And she would give anything to be able to choose an outfit without clearing her whole wardrobe and staring at herself in the mirror for hours with a self-critical look. Why was it so hard for her to make one single decision without questioning her whole life-style?

"So, let's hear it," Rin said, suppressing a knowing grin. Maki was so easy to read.

Maki looked like she had been given the instruction to list up a chemical formula that would cure cancer. She had no idea what to say.

Her knowledge on date ideas was limited to dinner and movies. Since she avoided sappy romance movies and TV shows the best she could, changing the channels with a disgusted grimace whenever it came on television, she hardly knew anything about what was considered a romantic setting. If Maki had to choose a place where she felt most comfortable, it would be the music studio in her home, but there was no way she could do that. Besides, she would easily get lost in her music, forgetting about anyone else in the room, which wasn't very ideal considering that Nico wasn't someone who took being ignored lightly.

"Maki-chan!" Rin waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention back. "So you don't have any plans after all."

"I said I do, I just don't feel like sharing," Maki muttered, crossing her arms.

"Rin-chan, if Maki-chan doesn't want to share, then she doesn't have to," Hanayo said, putting her hand over Rin's.

"But..." Rin protested, too curious about the developments between Maki and Nico to let that chance go. "We are Maki-chan's friends, right? If she can't talk about it with us, then does that mean that Maki-chan doesn't trust us? That we aren't reliable? Does that make us bad friends?"

Her method of causing Maki to feel guilty worked; the redhead looked torn for a few seconds before she let out a sigh and admitted with a grimace, "Fine, I don't have anything planned. Yet."

"Eh?" Hanayo exclaimed, startling Rin next to her, who hadn't been surprised by this revelation at all. "The date is tomorrow and you have nothing planned? This is bad news..."

Maki rolled her eyes, running a hand through her hair. "I don't need you to tell me."

"Then...then what are you going to do?"

"I already asked myself that a thousand times," Maki muttered in a grumpy voice. Then, pulling at her hair in frustration, she whined, "Ah, geez, I'm just going to cancel it, I can't do it. It's impossible."

"No, you can't!" Rin and Hanayo exclaimed at the same time, sitting up straight in their seats and staring at Maki with such a serious look that the latter one leaned back in her chair as a defensive reaction.

"Eh?"

"You can't," Hanayo repeated with force, resembling the personality she had when she was researching idols. "Nico-chan will be absolutely devastated if you do that."

"You will break her heart!" Rin continued. "You absolutely can't cancel that date."

The two had leaned forward so much that Maki felt uncomfortable with how close they were to her face. She flicked them both on the forehead, making them groan in pain and fall back against the backrest of their chairs.

"I'm not going to cancel it. I only said that because I was frustrated."

Hanayo and Rin breathed out a sigh of relief.

Maki cleared her throat, playing with a strand of her hair when she asked as casually as she could, "So...would it really break Nico-chan's heart if I cancel?"

Rin and Hanayo shared a blank look. Turning to Maki again, Rin replied in a dry tone, "Maki-chan, you're talented in a lot of areas, but sometimes, you can be really dumb."

"Hah?"

Rin managed to dodge Maki's hand that had been aiming for her head, and undeterred, she continued, "Even I can see that Nico-chan and Maki-chan are special to each other, so it must be really obvious – so you must be really dumb not to see it too."

"Rin..." Maki growled, trying to hit her but she couldn't reach her and after half a minute of flailing arms, she gave up. She turned to Hanayo. "Do you think the same?"

"Eh? Me?" Hanayo didn't want to answer at first, but then she slowly nodded under Maki's demanding gaze.

Maki couldn't believe this. She closed her eyes and covered them with her right hand, face flushing as she muttered, "The whole nation knows but I don't." She threw her hands up in frustration. "What else did I miss? That pigs can fly? That Santa isn't real? Or that you two have been secretly dating the whole time?"

"Um," Rin and Hanayo glanced at each other. "Well, pigs still can't fly..."

Maki's eyes widened, staring between the two girls sitting opposite of her. "No way...so you two  _are_  actually dating! I  _knew_  it, I just knew – wait a moment..." She faltered. "Why didn't you deny the Santa part too?"

* * *

"If I solve this equation for  _x_  and plug it in the second equation, I will get  _y,_ and then I'll...and then..."

"And then...?"

"I-I can't concentrate if you're breathing down my neck, Nozomi."

"You have a lot of excuses for not being able to concentrate, Nicochi," Nozomi said in a disapproving tone, pulling at Nico's ear before her hand got slapped away. "Sometimes it's the heat, other times it's the cold. Yesterday you couldn't get serious because you were studying alone and now that I'm here to help, I'm bothering you."

"You're not helping, you're just groping me from behind whenever I get something wrong, and yes, that is bothersome as hell," Nico complained. She banged her head against the desk and remained lying on it. "I give up. Once I become a super idol, I don't even need math... maybe only to count all the money I have."

Nozomi poked at Nico's head, but got no physical reaction except for a, "Stop it."

"You're not going to be a good role model for your fans, Nicochi," Nozomi said, using one of Nico's twintails to tickle her neck.

"Nozomiii," Nico whined, but she was too tired from studying to stop her friend from teasing her, squirming helplessly under the tickle attack.

"What are your fans going to say if they saw you giving up this easily," Nozomi wondered out loud, "Wordlevel super idol Yazawa Nico being defeated by a math equation..."

"Urgh..."

"And her defeated body has the grace of a dying … pig."

"Urgh!" Nico sat up straight in her seat again, brushed off Nozomi's hand that had been playing with her twintails and said, "Fine, fine, I'm over it. I'll try again."

"That's the spirit," Nozomi said with a smile and pointed to the math problem they were currently stuck on. "So, once you have your  _x_  and your  _y,_ what are you going to do with them?"

"I'm going to..." Nico squinted at the equation but nothing became clearer to her. In fact, she was sure that the numbers and variables were mocking her, lined up in a way that made no sense and caused her to question her intelligence. "I'm going to have to …. burn this stupid book with its stupid equations and –"

Nico screamed when two hands that were not her own grabbed her breasts from behind.

"You knew this would happen," Nozomi said with a smug grin, "I always warn you, but you don't seem to learn. But maybe it's because you want this?"

"Like hell I would," Nico growled, trying to shake Nozomi off her, but she was trapped in her chair. "You're just way too obsessed with my breasts...stop it!"

Nozomi snickered and let go. "There's nothing wrong with appreciating the female body."

Worn out from the punishment, Nico's head rested on the desk again. Her upper body twitched once in a while from the aftershock. "Then why don't you go appreciate Eli's body," Nico muttered in a lifeless tone, her breasts still tingling. "She has more to grab on too."

Nozomi paused, her playful mood faded. "Elichi?" she asked with an awkward laugh. "I can't do that."

Nico turned her head, her face now lying on the desk with her right cheek pressed against it, and she glared up at Nozomi. "What, only me? I feel flattered, thanks. But no thanks. Next time you have the urge to touch boobs, touch hers. I'm done."

"Now, now," Nozomi said with an unsteady laugh, rubbing her neck sheepishly, "you seem to have the wrong idea of me -"

"Wait a minute," Nico pushed herself off the desk and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Why are you acting all awkward out of sudden..." Realization dawned on her face. "Oh, don't tell me that you..." She snickered, clapping her hands together in delight. "I get it! I so get it! Oh, this is just hilarious."

"Eh?" Nozomi took a step back. "Nicochi, what are you talking about?"

A smug grin spread on Nico's face as she stood up. And then, in one dramatic motion, Nico swung her right arm and pointed her index finger straight at Nozomi's nose, making her squint at it in apprehension.

"You, Tojo Nozomi, are using me to fulfill your actual desire of touching Eli's breasts!" She announced triumphantly like she had convicted Nozomi of a crime in front of a grand court. "Ah, I always felt like I got caught up between a married couple when I was alone with you two..."

"Married?" A faint blush covered Nozomi's cheeks. "Nicochi, you're saying strange things..."

"No, no, I've got it all figured out," Nico said self-confidently, tipping herself on the head as a gesture of her brilliance. "Oh, you're a sly one, always telling others to be honest with themselves and listen to their hearts, but you yourself can't even admit what you want."

Nozomi opened her mouth, searching for words to defend herself, but there were none. It was the truth.

She turned away to hide her insecure expression from Nico.

"It's because I know exactly what's stopping me from my dreams that I help others not to do the same mistake." Her voice became quiet. "I wish I could judge my own situation with the same impartiality that I judge others with, but it's impossible to judge myself objectively."

Silence filled the room when Nico knew no immediate reply. Neither did Nozomi expect one. She kept her back turned to Nico, not wanting her to see her troubled expression because she was sure that her face was like an open book right now.

"I'm lost when it comes to reading myself and my own emotions. I can do that for others, but I can't do it for myself. Ironic, isn't it?"

"Then let me do that for you."

It was the serious tone and deeper pitch of Nico's voice that made Nozomi turn around in surprise, forgetting her resolve not to be seen during a vulnerable moment.

There were no traces of smugness left on Nico's expression, instead replaced by a genuine and mature look, which was a rare sight for Nozomi. She wondered how often Nico let this side of hers show.

"I know what it feels like," Nico admitted, talking in a voice that was the opposite of the high-pitched and sweet voice she usually used to express her idol persona. "I can't judge my own situation either. I'm afraid of interpreting too much into something that's not there, I don't want to end up believing in something that's not real."

Nozomi's heart ached at the bitter undertone Nico talked with.

"Nicochi..."

"You know, when I had that school idol group in my first year, I was so emotionally invested in it that I thought everyone else in my group was too. But when they all quit, one by one, I realized that I was just living in my own delusions. I couldn't read their feelings at all." Nico pulled at the sleeves of her pink cardigan until her hands were hidden. "I don't want that to happen to me again. Not with...not with her."

She didn't have to say a name for Nozomi to know who she was talking about.

"I want you to help me get it right this time," Nico said quietly, looking to the side. "And I will help you too."

Nozomi could see bits of pain and insecurity from the past lingering in Nico's eyes, and it made her question why she had never noticed it before. How long had Nico already struggled with this memory, did she still blame herself for what had happened two years ago? Was that why she had adopted a specific idol persona that always acted like she was the best because she had once felt like the worst? So maybe Nico only ever talked about getting to the top because she knew what being at the bottom felt like.

Nozomi took two long strides and engulfed Nico in a tight hug, putting her chin on the shorter girl's shoulder.

"Wha- Nozomi," Nico choked out, breathless from being held so tightly, "air..."

Nozomi loosened her hold a bit but didn't let go, squeezing the tiny girl in her arms. "I think I like hugging you more than rubbing your breasts."

"I'm...glad," Nico managed to get out. She had stopped struggling and just accepted the bone-crashing hug, looping her arms around Nozomi's waist. Fighting against the hug would only use up more oxygen she urgently needed. And hugging Nozomi felt kind of nice too.

"You know, Nicochi, you've grown a lot since you joined µ's," Nozomi whispered with a smile, her eyes closed as she snuggled against her classmate.

"What are you talking about, I'm still shorter than all of you," Nico muttered, feeling herself relax in the embrace.

Nozomi chuckled. "You know what I mean."

"Maybe," Nico mumbled. "Unless you're talking about my breasts again."

Nozomi pouted. "So I have this kind of image to you now?"

"Well,  _maybe_  if you just stopped grabbing them for fun, I wouldn't have to associate you with the image of a pervert. You really need to get together with Eli already."

A beat of silence, then, "That sentence doesn't have a lot of impact considering that it comes from someone sitting in the same boat."

Nico thought about countering that statement, but she paused and sighed. "True."

* * *

Narrowing her eyes to focus on the bull's eye, Umi took a deep breath as she pulled at the string of her bow with a steady hand. After considering wind speed and distance, she calculated the angle of her bow, readjusting when she found herself aiming too low.

Her body was as still as a statue when she waited for the right moment to release her arrow.

" _Umi-chan, the date was so much fun, I agreed to go on another! I think we're meant for each other!"_

The arrow sizzled through the air and missed its target, instead hitting the wall and creating a small dent in it.

"No," Umi whispered, looking at her trembling right hand.

"You missed?" The other members in her archery club stopped their own training, too surprised to witness their best archer miss the entire target. Umi was known to hit the bull's eye four out of five times, and even her worst results didn't go beyond the red ring.

"I had something in my eye," Umi stammered, too embarrassed to admit that she had been distracted by a horrible thought.

She forced herself to stay calm, waiting for everyone to get back to their own practice before she raised her bow again. Taking long deep breaths to clear her mind and regulate her heart beat, she told herself not to get worked up over something that hadn't even happened yet. The date was tomorrow. Everything was fine for now. Kotori wasn't going to go on a second date with anyone.

" _Umi-chan, I think I ... I think I love them! They're not just a fan to me anymore."_

"Noo!" And before the arrow even hit anything, Umi already knew she had missed. She dropped her bow, holding her head in frustration. "I can't let myself think about this..."

"Sonoda-san, are you alright?"

Worried club members gathered around her, quick to offer her a bottle of water and a towel. "Do you not feel well?"

"I'm – I'm fine, thank you," she muttered, accepting both with a weak smile. "I think I'm going home early today. Please excuse me."

"Of course! Get well soon!"

After changing back into her school uniform, her motions slow and sluggish, Umi walked out of the school with a tired expression. She knew she wouldn't be able to rest until all this was over. Until she was sure that Kotori had no intentions of seeing her date again. It wasn't like she wanted to be this insecure about it, she really wished her rational side would come to its senses and comfort her, but right now, her head was filled with various dreadful scenarios of Kotori leaving her for a stranger.

"Umi-san!"

Umi looked up in surprise.

"Oh, Arisa," she said, mustering up a small smile for the middle school girl who had been one of her earliest fans. "Are you waiting for your sister?"

The younger girl nodded with a bright smile, looking up at Umi with such sparkly eyes that it almost made her feel uncomfortable because this girl believed in her so much while Umi couldn't do the same at all.

"I read about the auction," Arisa said, excited, "and I want you to know that I would have bid for you if I were a millionaire!" She faltered when she remembered something. "But a date with Umi-san wasn't even up for auction."

It never failed to surprise Umi how different the Ayase sisters were. Though Eli had opened up a lot since she had joined µ's, she probably would never reach the level of honesty her little sister had.

"You're a good girl, Arisa," Umi chuckled, patting the short blonde on her head, making her grin in happiness. "I'm glad you passed the entry exam for Otonikazaka, you'll make a great addition to our school."

"Really?" Arisa's eyes glimmered with hope and excitement. "Then Umi-san will become my upperclassman..." She suddenly took a deep bow. "Please take care of me."

"A – Arisa," overwhelmed, Umi quickly touched Arisa's shoulder to make her stand straight again. "You're not my underclassman yet..."

"What's going on?"

Both Umi and Arisa turned to the source of the voice.

"Eli," Umi nodded to her while Arisa happily greeted her sister with a hug.

"Can we walk home together?" Arisa asked, glancing between Eli and Umi with a hopeful look.

"Sure."

Eli and Umi walked side by side while Arisa bounced in front of them, humming a cheerful tone to herself.

"What were you doing with my sister?" Eli said out of the corner of her mouth, giving Umi a suspicious glance.

"Eh?" Umi stared at the blonde with a confused expression. "We were having a conversation while waiting for you."

There was a delay in Eli's reply when she watched Arisa stopping on the way to pet a dog, but then she turned to Umi with a serious look, "What did she mean with she will be in your care? What are you two planning? What aren't you telling me?"

"Eh- eh?" While Umi understood now what Eli meant, she also kind of didn't understand at all. "Whatever shameful illusion you have, we most certainly did not converse about that. She only said she was looking forward to enrolling in Otonikazaka and having me as her upperclassman."

"Oh," Eli muttered, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. She had gotten ahead of herself again, this was Umi she was talking about. But as an older sister, her protectiveness was a habit difficult to suppress.

"Honestly," Umi sighed, "I don't get what you were thinking. Arisa is just a child."

Eli let out a noncommittal hum, her gaze landing on her little sister. She didn't want to point out the fact that the age difference between Arisa and Umi was the same as between Maki and Nico. She also wasn't going to enlighten Umi about Arisa's idol crush on her if the second year was too oblivious to notice herself.

In Eli's opinion, her worries were justified. Right now, Arisa might look like a little child to Umi, but 14 year old Eli had also been a short girl with a soft and round face before puberty sharpened her facial features with maturity, gave her long slender legs and blessed her with curves of an underwear model. It was only logical that Arisa would soon follow her example, becoming a true Ayase woman around her 16th birthday like her sister, mother and grandmother who had all gone through the same ritual as they shared the same gene.

And once Arisa had shed her childlike image, there would be nothing holding her back to pursue her greatest dream – that would be the µ's member Sonoda Umi. Who was completely unaware of it.

Eli felt like punching Umi for something she wasn't to blame for. She knew she was being irrational, but who could guarantee her that Umi wasn't going to give in to her little sister once Eli had graduated and was nowhere around to keep an eye on them? Arisa could be quite persuasive if she wanted, having mastered the art of an innocent puppy look at a very young age, and Eli dreaded the power she would have once puberty turned this sweet girl into a woman.

"Ow!"

Umi rubbed her left arm, staring at Eli in disbelief. "Did you just pinch me? Why did you pinch me?"

Eli's dark expression made Umi take a step away from her. "You have to stay faithful to Kotori."

"Hah?"

Umi didn't get an explanation or even the chance to process it all when Eli jabbed her pointer finger into Umi's shoulder, saying in a threatening voice, "Even if I've graduated, I will find out."

"Eli, I don't understand what you're saying," Umi said, getting more and more uncomfortable with Eli's growing sinister aura. The worst part was that she didn't know what she had done to evoke it.

Eli stared at Umi for a couple more seconds before she finally seemed to wake up from her trance. She released a deep breath and sighed.

"Sorry, Umi, I don't know what's gotten into me," Eli apologized. "Maybe I've become sensitive to people I love getting taken away from me."

Her explanation didn't help to clear up Umi's confusion at all, making her think that something terrible had happened in Eli's past involving kidnapped family members. And how was Umi connected to this?

Sensing the big question mark looming over Umi's head, Eli decided to be honest with her because there was no one else in µ's she could talk this with. "It's just that I'm still worried about tomorrow. Nozomi won't tell me anything about her date. She's never insisted on keeping a secret from me before, so why would she do it now about something so little? Am I being paranoid?"

Umi didn't know an immediate answer, too surprised by Eli initiating a conversation about something so private. Both were clumsy and awkward in the romance department, and neither of them liked to be the first one to ask for help, so Eli had to be feeling quite troubled if she managed to suppress her embarrassment and talk to Umi about it.

Aware of the hurdle that Eli had overcome, Umi would give any help she could offer though she knew she wasn't one bit wiser than her upperclassman.

"I think it's natural that you are worried about it," she said, her tone soft. "I couldn't concentrate during archery practice at all because I was worrying about the outcome of tomorrow too."

They fell silent, walking in an unhurried pace and watching Arisa lead the way in the front. The middle school girl seemed to be content with walking with the two older girls without talking to them, just enjoying the presence of her two greatest role models. She was happy that her big sister got along so well with Umi now, knowing that the two didn't have the best start when they first walked home together a year ago.

When Arisa spotted another dog and chased after it to pet it, Eli and Umi chuckled in amusement, glad to see the younger girl so energetic.

"You should follow Arisa's example," Umi said, "she chases after the things she wants without a second thought."

"And this is how she gets hurt half of the time," Eli replied just when Arisa tripped and fell. "Arisa!"

Eli and Umi hurried to the younger girl, but she was already standing again. "I'm fine. I'm not hurt, see?"

She showed the palm of her hands which were a little bit red but had no scratches. "Oh, that dog's still there!" She ran off again, not reacting to her sister's warning calls.

"Honestly, that girl," Eli shook her head with a sigh, picking up the school bag that Arisa had dropped.

"I still think there's a lot you can learn from her," Umi said. "Though she already fell once, she keeps running."

"Umi," Eli inserted impatiently, "you can't compare her situation with mine. If I trip and fall, it's going to take a lot more than band-aids to fix me."

"So you're letting that fear control you?"

The two had stopped walking, facing each other with a frown.

"Why do I have to hear that from you?" Eli said, feeling irritation seeping in her expression. "I don't see you doing anything to get closer to Kotori. You're not doing anything to chase after what you want either, and yet here you are, trying to lecture me."

Umi's cheeks reddened when she realized the double standard she had caught herself in, but she didn't back down, raising her chin in a challenging manner. "It's because someone has to. Someone always has to play the unpopular role of being the rational voice. But it's never because they want to or because they think they are rational beings themselves, but because otherwise, nothing would ever move forward."

"But no one's asking for you to play that role, Umi!" Eli countered, stepping closer to Umi in her agitated state. "No one asked for you to take that role, expecting you to be voice of reason whenever they need it. Why don't you follow your own advice first before you give them to others?

Umi's eyes filled up with anger and hurt as she stared at Eli. She put her clenched fist to her heart, pounding herself there. "You think I chose that role for myself?" She whispered. "You know what  _I_  didn't ask for? To feel so responsible for everything and everyone all the time. I wished I could care less too so I could focus more on my own happiness than trying to protect everyone else's. I don't even want to lecture anyone because I know it's repetitive and annoying, but if I don't, I fear they're going to make a mistake that will ruin their happiness. I'm as tired of scolding Honoka as she is. I'm as tired of talking about this as you are."

Eli's irritation faded, replaced by concern. "Umi..."

"Onee-chan! Umi-san!" Arisa came bouncing their way, holding two drink cans. "I got you a drink and I think I got it right this time! Lemon soda."

She offered them proudly to her sister and her future upperclassman, but lowered her arms when she noticed the tension between the two older girls. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Eli mustered up a smile for her sister, and Umi played along, smiling too.

"Thank you, that's very considerate of you," Umi said, accepting the drink with a grateful nod.

Arisa knew that they were pretending for her sake, but she chose not to point it out because they had their reasons if they didn't want to talk about it. Instead, she hoped to lighten the mood by changing the topic.

"I got to pet that dog," she said with a happy grin. "When I grow up, I want to have a Shiba Inu too, just like Yukiho-chan. Maybe with Yukiho-chan! Since she's already an expert..."

"I'm sure Yukiho-chan would be delighted," Umi said, laughing when Arisa's eyes sparkled with a hopeful look. "Honoka says that she mentions you a lot in her future plans. Besides losing weight."

Arisa blushed, smiling happily. "Thank you for telling me! Now I finally have something to tease her about."

"Er..." That was not what Umi had intended, and she wanted to tell Arisa so, but the younger girl had run off again, this time to call her best friend on the phone.

"That reminded me of something Nozomi would do. Meddling in other people's lives, prodding them to go along the direction of happiness."

Umi glanced at the blonde, unsure whether they were continuing where they had left off or pretending that nothing had happened.

Eli gave her a soft smile. Then, after clearing her throat, she said in an apologetic tone, "I'm sorry, Umi. I was ignorant. I've never thought about it that way. But I guess everyone has their own burden to shoulder, and sometimes that burden can't be seen by everyone."

Umi let out a long breath, relieved that they seemed to be going back to normal. "It's okay. I didn't mean to lose control."

"No, I'm glad you did," Eli said, putting a hand on Umi's shoulder. "Because if you didn't, I still wouldn't be any wiser about how it really feels like for you." She squeezed her shoulder. "Even if it's not a role you chose for yourself, it's a role that no one else can fulfill better than you, Umi. And I hope you continue to be the voice of reason in our group."

Chuckling weakly, Umi replied, "It doesn't seem like I have any other choice, do I?"

"Maybe not," Eli answered, "but you have so many choices in other parts of your life. Starting with the choice of your actions. What are you planning to do tomorrow?"

"Eh?" Overwhelmed by the different turn each of Eli's sentences had taken, Umi was slow to reply. "Tomorrow? Nothing in particular...maybe some activities that will distract me from thinking about the fan dates..."

"No, this is not how we're going to do this," Eli shook her head.

"We?"

Eli nodded with grim determination. " _We_  will stop being inactive, starting tomorrow. Because all this time, we were hoping for the best while watching from the distance. But we won't get anywhere like this, it's time to actually move forward. What do you think, Umi?"

Umi took her time to read Eli's expression, and when she saw that the blonde was a hundred percent serious about what she was saying, she nodded. "I agree. Because we keep telling each other to go after what we want but none of us has moved from their place. And this attitude is going to tie us down."

Eli took a deep breath.

"Today's the last day we're allowed to be cowards. Tomorrow, everything changes."


	4. Sold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last time on Love Live!: i don't have a quirky summary ready, but rest assured that a lot of gay stuff happened and there's more to come

 

* * *

Kayochin, have you seen my comb?" Rin's voice carried over from the bathroom into Hanayo's room.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I thought that was mine," Hanayo called back after a closer look at the comb she was using. "Do you need it right now?"

"No, it's okay. You can give it to me once you're done."

"Thank you," Hanayo replied, continuing to brush her hair until no single strand stood out anymore. She took a deep breath and tried to give herself a confident smile in the mirror, but her facial muscles were too cramped to produce a natural smile, and she ended up scaring herself because her twitching mouth and wide-eyed stare wasn't the most charming combination.

"R-Rin-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"What if..." Hanayo's gaze fell. "What if my fan will think I'm boring? I don't know what to talk about, I'm so nervous around strangers. The only one I always feel comfortable around with are you."

When she didn't get a reply, she assumed that Rin hadn't heard her. She sighed and turned away from the mirror. Maybe it was better not to start talking about the same old topic again, but she couldn't help it, her heart wouldn't calm down and neither could her mind. The thought of disappointing a fan lasted heavily on her, making it unable for her to go about this date in a carefree manner like Rin did.

Unlike Rin's date, who was a young hyper boy with an outgoing personality, Hanayo had been matched up with someone of a similar character to hers. A few years older but still looking like he was underage, Hanayo's date was a reserved man whose gaze was directed at the ground most of the times. And whenever he did look up, he would peer over his glasses that were sitting low on the bridge of his nose, blinking rapidly in insecurity.

She didn't expect him to be someone who could initiate conversations and know how to keep them alive and interesting. Long, awkward silences with halfhearted questions in between, that was something Hanayo predicted for today.

"Kayochin."

Startled, Hanayo dropped the comb and turned to the door, watching Rin enter the room with a towel messily wrapped around her wet hair. The shoulder parts of her shirt were soaked and water drops trickled from her hairline down her forehead and cheeks.

"Rin-chan," Hanayo breathed, then rushed over to her girlfriend with the intention of properly drying her with the towel, but Rin grabbed her hands and held them tightly. "Kayochin."

It was the serious tone in her voice that made Hanayo freeze, and she looked her in the eyes. "Y-yes?"

Rin squeezed Hanayo's fingers, saying quietly, "I don't like it when you talk lowly of yourself. It makes me sad that you don't see yourself the way you really are – cute and pretty and awesome -"

"But that's only how you see me," Hanayo whispered.

"And everyone else!" Rin added with emphasis, holding up their intertwined hands. "Why would I lie about this? I'm not saying it to make you feel better – well I do, but that's besides the point – I'm also saying it because it's true! If we call up Maki-chan or Nozomi-chan or anyone really, they will tell you the same!"

"That's – that's not necessary," Hanayo stuttered, "I'm sure they're too busy right now..."

"That wasn't the point either," Rin vehemently shook her head, causing a few water droplets to fly left and right, "I just wanted to say that everyone thinks so. Kayochin, don't talk about how boring you are, talk about how interesting you could be! Everyone has a fascinating side, but it's only as interesting as they make it seem. I know you're trying to be modest, but it's blocking you from showing your awesomeness."

"Rin...chan..."

"So let's get you into some cute clothes and make you so pretty that your date won't know what will hit them!"

* * *

"Ribbon."

"Here."

"That's yours, Nozomi."

"Oops, my bad. Here."

"Thanks." Nico parted her hair in the middle, about to tie them up into pigtails when she paused. "Should I let my hair down today?"

"If you want to," Nozomi absently mumbled, focused on braiding her hair to the side but she couldn't get them to stay neatly interwoven.

Nico saw her friend struggling and sighed. "Come here, let me do that for you. It's painful to watch you being clumsy."

"Really?" Nozomi's expression lit up and she walked over to Nico, plopping down on the bed next to her. "Thanks."

"Hm," Nico hummed, her swift fingers braiding Nozomi's hair with far more precision and speed than the other girl.

"You're good at this though I've never seen you braid your hair before," Nozomi remarked, watching themselves in the mirror.

"My sisters sometimes want me to braid their hair, so I learned it," Nico muttered, putting a hair clip on the end of the finished braid. She patted Nozomi's hair proudly. "All done. You look good."

"You're going to make me blush, Nicochi," Nozomi said sheepishly, giving Nico a playful shove.

"Hey, don't mess up my hair," Nico jumped off her bed, beginning to march back and forth in her room until she suddenly looked up with a tense look. "Oh no."

"Nicochi?"

Nico turned to Nozomi, her expression stiff. "It's starting to sink in."

Nozomi furrowed her brows. "That you're going on a date with Maki-chan?"

"Oh my god," Nico held her forehead, her breath getting shorter. "I'm going on a date with Maki-chan."

"That's a bit late for you to realize."

"Not helping... Nozomi." Nico came to a stop in front of her mirror, gazing at herself with a panicked look. "I can't meet her looking like this. What have I been doing the whole time? I don't look worthy, I don't look like I'm worth a 400,000 Yen date, I need to start saving up to pay off that debt -"

"Nicochi." Nozomi hugged her from behind, and Nico became still. "I bet Maki-chan is driving herself crazy right now over what to wear to the date."

Nico gazed uncertainly at Nozomi through the mirror. "Maki-chan would already have an outfit planned days ago."

"Hm," Nozomi chuckled, lowering her chin on top of Nico's shoulder. "Seems like I know Maki-chan better than you do."

"Pfft, as if," Nico muttered, but didn't sound quite as confident as she wished to. And when she caught Nozomi's knowing grin in the mirror, she faltered. "Maybe. But don't think you've won this round or anything."

Nozomi laughed, squeezing Nico one last time when she was sure that the shorter girl had calmed down, and let go of her to finish the preparations for the date.

"How come you're not nervous at all?" Nico asked, envious of Nozomi's placid behavior.

"Well, unlike you, I'm neither romantically nor sexually interested in my date so -"

"Forget I asked," Nico interrupted. But she somehow felt comforted by the fact that Nozomi was able to irritate her in any situation. No matter what kind of circumstance, at least one thing remained constant.

"What kind of person is your date anyway?" Nico asked when she realized that Nozomi hadn't told her any details about her date yet. "He must be really disappointing if you haven't told me about him yet."

"Actually," Nozomi grinned at her, " _she_ is a very accomplished person. And I'm quite glad to have her has as my date because it could have turned out to be very different."

Nico's eyes widened in surprise. "What's she like?"

"Hm," Nozomi thoughtfully hummed. "Tall. Impressive proportions. Very attractive, I would say. And charming."

"Sounds a bit like Eli," Nico replied when she went over the description in her head.

"Oh, she looks nothing like Elichi," Nozomi chuckled, waving dismissively with her hand.

"Now you've made me curious," Nico crossed her arms. "Do you have a picture of her?"

"Well, no, but I have a name and if she didn't lie about being an award winning theater actress, then the internet should be able to provide -"

"What?!" Nico almost tripped on her way to grab her phone from the nightstand. "Name, right now!"

"Uh, Aikawa Ryo?"

Nico entered that name into a search engine, muttering beneath her breath, "She can't be that famous if no one's reporting it."

"Well, working in theater doesn't get you as much exposure to media as idols do."

"Oh, wow," Nico breathed, narrowing her eyes at the phone screen. Someone was not going to like Nozomi's date. "She could have been a great idol with that look..."

Nozomi hummed in agreement, brushing her hair to one side and smoothing them out. "I think I'm done. How about you?"

"Uh," Nico threw her phone on the bed, no longer caring about Nozomi's date because her own was far more important. She gestured to her head with hectic motions. "Hair down? Hair up?"

Nozomi grinned in amusement, wishing a certain redhead could see Nico right now. "I'm sure either way is fine."

"Nozomi," Nico whined, "make this decision for me, please."

"Fine, fine," Nozomi beckoned Nico to come closer. "Hair down today it is. Makes you look more mature." And she used her brush to comb through Nico's long and sleek hair. "Still nervous?" she asked softly when she noticed Nico's stiff shoulders and tense muscles.

Nico released a long sigh and closed her eyes, frowning. "I don't think there was one second where I wasn't nervous these past days."

Surprised, Nozomi stopped brushing Nico's hair. "I didn't notice."

"Well," Nico rubbed her neck, facing to the side, "it's because you helped a lot...you know, when we had that talk...so thanks. Also you being here right now stopped me from going crazy."

"Oh, Nicochi." Nozomi hugged Nico again, touched by the honesty the other girl displayed. "Now you only need to be this honest toward Maki-chan!"

At the mention of her upcoming date with Maki, Nico felt her throat getting dry and a wave of nausea caused by increasing nervousness befell her. "And now I feel sick."

* * *

Half an hour left and she still hadn't decided on an outfit. How could it be that she couldn't find anything suitable to wear in a walk-in closet full of clothes with their price tags still attached? The heap of sorted out clothes on the ground shaped a small mountain by now and it grew every few seconds when another unqualified piece of clothing flew on top of it.

Maki let out an irritated groan when even her favorite dress didn't appeal to her anymore, looking mediocre and boring when she picked it up. It used to be her lifesaver when she didn't know what to wear; perfect for formal dinners with her parents and their colleagues, for events sponsored by her parents' business partners or for any other type of galas.

She threw it over her shoulder with a sigh.

"Maki."

"Bueh?" Startled, Maki did a quick turn and saw her mother enter her closet, or what she assumed was her mother since the person's head was covered with the dress she had carelessly thrown behind her. "Oh..."

Her mother pulled the dress off her head, then smoothed out her hair while giving Maki a stern glance. "What did I tell you about throwing clothes around?"

"Not to," Maki replied in a quiet voice.

"Then please put it back where you took it from," her mother said, holding up the dress for Maki to take, but before her daughter could grab it, she retracted her arm.

"Mama?"

"This..." The older woman stroked the fine fabric of the dress. "This was your favorite. You always looked so pretty in it." She looked up with a sad smile. "Why do you not like it anymore?"

Alarmed by her mother's expression, Maki shook her head and said, "I still do! But...I don't think it's what I should wear today."

Her mother carefully put the dress on a hanger and hung it on a clothes rail. "I haven't seen you this stressed about choosing an outfit before. This date must be really important to you."

"I...I..." Maki pressed her lips together, fixating her gaze on the ground. Of all the people to see her like this, it had to be her mother. She was already nervous enough about going on a date with Nico, she didn't feel like explaining to her mother why she was this nervous. She feared she wasn't going to make it to the date without dying from embarrassment beforehand.

"How about this?"

"Huh?" Maki looked up in confusion.

Her mother held up a purple blouse and a black skirt, tilting her head. "This is your favorite combination. Or is that a thing of the past too?"

Maki didn't understand. What was her mother trying to do? Aside from obviously giving fashion advice. Why wasn't she asking the question that Maki had been so sure of hearing?

"I guess that still works," Maki said uncertainly, taking the two pieces of clothing from her mother and hugging them close to her. "Thanks."

Her mother smiled warmly, reaching out to brush a strand of hair behind Maki's ear. "Have fun, my dear." She pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. Maki closed her eyes, suddenly feeling transported back into time when she was ten years old and so nervous before piano recitals that her mother always comforted her with a kiss on the forehead.

As the older woman turned around to leave, Maki's eyes fluttered open and she called out, "Mama -"

Her mother stopped and looked behind with a patient expression. "Hm?"

"I..." Maki cleared her throat, looking to the side. "Thank you."

Maki's mother smiled. "You're welcome. I know the last thing you need right now are questions from me. Sometimes a mother is better off not knowing everything."

Maki hid her face behind her purple blouse. "Yes, Mama."

It wasn't like she had anything shameful to hide, but at the same time, she wholeheartedly agreed that both parties would prefer not knowing everything about each other.

"But, don't think you are spared from questions once you are home," her mother suddenly added, smirking. Maki paled. "I want to hear all about that date when you're back. Now, get dressed or you'll be late."

She gave her daughter a thumbs up, then walked away humming, leaving behind a frozen Maki.

Just when Maki thought her mother had released her of one problem, she just gave her one more thing to worry about.

* * *

It was time. Eyeing herself in the mirror with a blank look, Kotori put the finishing touches to her make-up before she put aside her powder brush and closed her make-up kit. A long sigh escaped her, making her shake her head at herself. She couldn't bear to see her reflection anymore, tired of seeing the emptiness in her eyes that couldn't be less enthusiastic about the upcoming date.

Her date was a lanky man ten years older than her, the founder of a small but blooming engineering office, which allowed him to spend some of his profit on his greatest passion: school idols. He seemed to be a decent person with no harmful ulterior motives, but there was not the least bit chemistry between them, apparent since their first short meet after the auction. Kotori didn't look forward to spending most of her day with him, knowing it was going to be awkward and dull because they had nothing in common to talk about.

But despite her heavy reluctance about going to that date - even going so far to consider making up an excuse about being sick - she had spent two hours on putting together a cute outfit and applying perfect make-up. But her thorough preparations weren't for the fan or the inevitable paparazzi she was going to meet today.

She wanted a certain person to see her in her best dress, making them wish they were her date instead. She wanted them to feel a painful yearning in their heart the same way she always felt when she saw them.

She just wanted them to feel  _something_. Anything but indifference about her going on a date with someone else.

* * *

Honoka squinted her eyes at herself in the mirror, gasping when she discovered a pimple on the right side her forehead. Her first reaction was to squeeze it, but common sense made her fingers stop right before they touched the red spot.

"Why now," she whined, holding her head in panic, "what should I do?"

Her eyes landed on her watch and she gasped again, she was going to be late if she didn't leave right now.

"I'll just-"

She brushed her bangs to the side, hoping to cover the pimple with her hair.

"Now I look weird," Honoka muttered, picking at a few strands of her hair to make her new hair style look more natural, but the more she fumbled, the messier it got. "Argh, forget it. I'm going to be late."

She let out an angry puff, blowing up her bangs in the process, and they fell back into their usual position. She hoped Tsubasa wouldn't notice. But even if she did, she wasn't the type of person to point it out, so Honoka wouldn't know whether the pimple was much of a bother or not.

There was no use in thinking about these things, it was too late to try and change anything about her appearance. Honoka sprinted down the stairs, almost tripping on a step but she managed to catch herself, not letting that short moment of fright slow her down. She couldn't allow herself to show up late to a date that Tsubasa had paid half a million Yen for. But above all, she didn't want to put off the girl she liked with her tardiness.

She hadn't felt this excited since her last live.

* * *

"You know, when you said that everything would change today, I expected you to have a great plan of some sort."

"Are you implying that my current plan is no good?"

"Well...we look suspicious right now."

"That's because you won't stop glancing around like you're a wanted criminal, Umi."

Umi pulled down her cap, creating a shadow that hid her eyes. "That's because I  _feel_  like a criminal. Why do we even have to disguise ourselves?"

"Why do you think?" Eli muttered, pushing up her large sunglasses that kept sliding down her nose. "We are supposed to be too busy to spare a complete day for a date, which is the official reason why we weren't up for auction. But if they see us hanging around, another scandal is sure to come."

Umi exhaled with a sigh, crossing her arms. "How did it even come to this."

Eli ignored her friend's complaint, glancing at her watch. All dates would officially start around three in the afternoon, which was the only rule that applied to everyone. But the choice of locations and activities were up to each pair's imagination.

"How do you even know if Nozomi is going to be here?"

Leaning with their backs against the wall of a building, they were hiding just around the corner of the local shrine where Nozomi usually helped out. Everyone who passed them made sure to give them a wide berth, afraid to get mixed up with the two suspicious looking persons whose faces were either covered by sunglasses or a baseball cap.

"She will be," Eli replied, "that's the only thing she told me about the date. That they are going to meet up here."

Umi felt uncomfortable about the whole situation. "Eli, what we are doing right now...isn't that stalking?"

"That's..." Eli cleared her throat. "I just want to make sure she's not meeting up with a creep. It's her fault that she didn't tell me anything about them. But as soon as I'm sure that she'll be safe, we're gone."

Umi felt the need to point out that Eli's well-meant intention didn't change the fact that what they were doing could be already considered as creepy. But before she could give in to her urge, she was distracted by her phone vibrating and ringing in her jeans pockets. Eli raised her eyebrow, wordlessly saying, 'Really, now?'

"Excuse me for a moment," Umi mumbled, taking out her phone to see who was calling. She almost dropped it. "It's Anju! What do I do?"

"Why is she calling you?" Eli asked in a whisper, narrowing her eyes at the name displayed on Umi's phone.

"How am I supposed to know?" Umi replied in panic, holding her phone at a distance like she was afraid of getting bitten.

"Just take the call!" Eli urged, becoming nervous herself because the ring tone was increasing in volume, garnering the attention of everyone who walked by.

"Er," Umi finally pressed a button to accept the call and brought her phone to her right ear. "Sonoda Umi here, hello?"

"Ah, Umi-san, sorry for bothering you, is now a bad time?" Anju's light voice filled the line.

"Uhm," Umi's answer came delayed because she was shortly distracted by Eli pressing her own ear against the phone, sticking too close to Umi's side for her liking. "No, now is perfectly fine. I have no pressing matters at the moment."

Eli grumbled in disagreement, but didn't speak up.

"Perfect!" Anju said in delight. "Erena and I were wondering if you were free on this beautiful day? I know the chances of you not being busy are low, but since today is where most of µ's are going on a date, I figured, why not try it? Of course you are welcome to invite Ayase-san too."

"Oh?" Umi was overwhelmed by the offer, not used to making plans with people outside of µ's. She met Eli's expectant gaze. "Can I...can I write you back once I asked Eli?"

"Of course! But don't let us wait for too long!"

"Yes, I will reply as soon as possible," Umi said, clearing her throat. "Thank you very much for asking. I'm very happy you considered to seek my company today."

"Oh, it's nothing," Anju laughed, "now that our leaders are dating, we might as well start getting to know each other."

Both Umi and Eli thought that they either had misunderstood or that she had made a mistake. But before Umi could correct her, Anju continued, "Then, Umi-san, I expect an answer in a few minutes! Hope to see you soon."

"Yes, thank you, I will reply soon."

When Umi hung up, she suddenly felt more nervous than before taking the call. "Eli, I can't meet them alone. You have to go with me."

"Eh?" Eli pushed up her sunglasses. "Why don't you just say you have no time?"

"That's lying," Umi said with a frown. "And I don't lie. Also, you made me an accomplice in your questionable plan, the least you could do to repay me is going with me."

"The plan!" Eli seemed to remember what they were even here for, and glanced around the corner of the building they were hiding behind. "Still no one there."

"Maybe your information is incorrect?" Umi suggested, crossing her arms.

"I don't -" Eli was interrupted by a ring tone going off. "What is it now!?"

Umi defensively held up her hands, showing her phone which was off.

"Oh." Eli fished out her own phone, humming in surprise when the screen displayed a name she hadn't expected. She accepted the call. "Nico?"

"Listen, I'm on my way to the date now, so I don't have much time to talk, so you better listen carefully and you better not interrupt," Nico said impatiently, and Eli had to strain her ears to filter her voice out of the background noises of a rattling train and people talking. "Nozomi's not going to meet her date at the shrine, so you can stop waiting there for her like a creep-"

"I'm not -"

"Shush, didn't I just tell you not to interrupt?" Nico growled. "Anyway, I figured you would do something like this when Nozomi said she hadn't told you anything about her date yet. Said something about not wanting you to get the wrong idea? But to be honest, I don't get her at all. You totally got the wrong idea, am I right? No, don't answer this, I know."

Though Eli was beyond annoyed, she couldn't hang up. "Nico..."

"Yeah yeah, sorry," Nico said dismissively. "So Nozomi and I were preparing together for our dates, that's when I found out who her date actually is, and before you freak out, let me tell you that she – according to her own words – is neither sexually nor romantically interested in her date, so don't go crazy -"

"Who is it?" Eli interrupted, too tense to keep her voice down. Umi took a step back.

"Well, even if I told you their name, it's not going to tell you anything, but once you see them, I want you to stay calm -

"Just tell me who it is!"

The line went silent for a few seconds, then, "I guess I do understand now why Nozomi kept it a secret from you...you're way too tense about this! Oh, my station's next, have to get off now."

"No, wait," Eli grasped her phone tightly, "at least tell me what I should expect!"

"Eli," Nico sighed, "I've been the third wheel to you two guys long enough to know that there's nothing that could get in between you. You want to know what to expect? Nothing. Because nothing will change, Nozomi will still like you and you will still like her, so I swear to god, if you don't pull yourself together after today and confess already, I'm going to do it for you!"

"Nico..."

"Ah, crap, I really need to go now!" The line crackled, and Nico's voice became fainter. "Listen, Eli, it will be alright. I know it probably doesn't sound convincing from me considering...stuff...but I'm set on changing that. Nozomi helped me a lot and I want to help her too by helping you first. I know I'm not as tactful as her, but if it gets the message across, I've done my part. So don't do anything stupid, just believe in Nozomi. You've got it, Eli. Hanging up now."

And the line went dead. Eli stared at her phone, hoping Nico's voice would suddenly come out of it again, telling her more words of reassurance.

Umi cleared her throat. "So I take it Nozomi won't come?"

Eli sighed in defeat, putting her phone back into her pockets. "Let's...let's meet up with A-Rise."

"Eli?" Umi stretched out a careful hand, and when Eli didn't flinch back, she gave her shoulder a comforting touch.

"I'm sorry for dragging you into this," Eli said, shaking her head. "You were right, this plan was no good. It wasn't even a plan, just... a sad attempt to stop feeling helpless."

"Hey," Umi whispered, nudging Eli's arm to make her look up, "we're not allowed to be cowards anymore, remember? Maybe it was too ambitious to aim for a complete change today, but let's start by moving on. Let's have fun and wish the others to have fun too. And once they're done, we have no more reason to hold back. But for now, let's find a way to pass our time without driving ourselves crazy."

Eli slowly nodded, giving Umi a thankful smile. She playfully tipped Umi's cap. "You sometimes have more of an upperclassman feeling to you than I do, Umi."

"Are you saying I'm old," Umi deadpanned.

"Eh - ?"

"Just joking," Umi chuckled, dodging Eli's hand that aimed to pinch her. "Besides, I already wrote Anju that we were going to meet her while you were phoning with Nico."

Despite the long sigh she released, Eli was smiling. Thanks to Umi and Nico, the feeling of helplessness was gone and a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulder. Whatever would come next, she knew she wasn't alone, and that made the future less scary.

* * *

"Tsubasa-san!"

Still quite a distance away, Honoka came running while wildly waving her arm, calling out Tsubasa's name which made everyone's head turn toward her. Tsubasa blushed but happily grinned, pleased that Honoka was enthusiastic as ever.

"Tsubasa-san," Honoka said out of breath once she stood in front of her, wiping at her forehead. "Am I late? I'm sorry, I forgot the time when I was getting ready and I really hope you didn't have to wait long."

"I just got here myself," Tsubasa said with a smile.

"Really? You're not just saying that to make me feel better? Because Umi-chan said that this is what most people do," Honoka said, frowning.

"Sonoda-san may be right about this, but I truly arrived here just a minute ago because I was held up by a few fans who recognized me," Tsubasa replied with a chuckle, grinning when Honoka's expression brightened.

"Lucky," Honoka cheered, then looked around with curiosity shining in her eyes. "So what are we going to do first?"

Being with Honoka always felt refreshing because the other girl was so full of energy and life, it was hard not to be affected by her bubbly aura. Even when she was already in a good mood, Honoka always managed to raise her level of happiness even higher.

Unable to contain her excited smile, Tsubasa pointed behind her.

"Have you ever skated on ice?"

* * *

Kotori wasn't someone to think overly mean thoughts, but she couldn't help herself, she didn't think she had ever been this bored. Contrary to her expectations, her date turned out to be very talkative, but the conversations they had were too one-sided to even call them conversations. In fact, the only thing she was contributing to their topics were 'mhm's and 'ah's and 'really?' while he talked non-stop of his idol merchandise collection.

She wondered if the other members were having more fun than her.

* * *

It wasn't easy at first. Hanayo and her date were both prone to stuttering as soon as they were nervous, and none of them could look the other in the eye for the first ten minutes. But the ice was broken when the guy mentioned his Blu-ray collection of the nation's top idols and their concerts, and Hanayo was instantly struck by her idol-obsessed persona.

Seeing her eyes flame up with passion ignited his own, and both overcame their shyness to eagerly discuss a topic they couldn't get enough of.

–

Rin didn't have those start-up difficulties, getting along with her date from the very first second. They had chosen an arcade as their location, and they quickly bonded over slaughtering virtual zombies and crashing each others' cars out of race tracks. It was a lot more fun than she had expected.

* * *

The last time Nico had felt this stressed was a month ago when exams were coming up and she had procrastinated studying until the very last minute. Her stress hadn't been visible from the outside as she had leisurely gone about her days, avoiding her responsibilities with an innocent smile, but innerly she had felt like there was a ticking time bomb inside her chest about to implode. It was a strange thing how she managed to be both calm and stressed before exams, spending her time looking up videos of idols when she knew there were like a thousand things she had to do first.

The kind of stress Nico was feeling right now was different but just as terrifying. She was about to go crazy because she couldn't find Maki at the location where they were supposed to meet up.

Maki was a punctual person, and even if she did run late, she would have notified Nico. So it had to be Nico who had managed to somehow land at the wrong location. And that was what made her stress levels shoot up.

Nico went through the chat history between her and Maki, hoping she hadn't read the address wrong. Then she looked up at the building in front of her. And glanced down at her phone again, frowning.

She was quite sure that she had arrived at the right art gallery unless there was a second one with an identical name, but she dismissed that thought.

She tightened her grip around her phone when a wave of fear struck her. What if Maki had gotten into an accident on her way here? How was Nico going to know if she was alright?

Nico quickly dialed Maki's number and pressed her phone against her ear, praying to hear the voice that had sung its way into her heart and made it a mushy mess.

" _Nico-nico-nii, it's Yazawa Nico calling, so you better not let me wait and pick up, nico!_ "

Nico slowly lowered her phone and turned around, coming face to face with Maki whose cheeks were flaming red and whose eyes were wide open in panic.

" _Nico-nico-nii, it's Yazawa Nico calling, so you better not let me wait and pick up, nico!"_

Nico glanced at Maki's handbag where her own voice was coming from. Maki was still frozen stiff, unable to move.

" _Nico-nico-nii, it's Yazawa -"_ A short beeping noise, then, " _Nishikino Maki here. I'm obviously not available right now, so if there's anything important to say, leave it in my mailbox or just write me."_

Maki's phone finally became mute when the call was disconnected.

"Uhm," Nico felt her own face starting to heat up, "nice ringtone?"

Maki opened her mouth, but no sound was coming out and after several tries, she finally spluttered, "I – I didn't know that – that this is my ringtone when you call, I honestly have no idea how that happened -"

"Ahh," Nico sighed when she understood. "I remember now. I recorded that for Rin because she wanted a personalized ringtone from everyone in µ's."

"Rin?" Maki's eyes widened in surprise before they narrowed again in a grim expression. "Rin..."

So that was why Rin had insisted on playing with her phone a few days ago.

"I can't believe it," Maki hissed through gritted teeth, glaring at the ground and willing her cheeks to stop burning, "I will kill her."

Nico let out an awkward laugh. "Maybe not, µ's really doesn't need a murder scandal..."

When Maki didn't look up, Nico muttered sheepishly, "Sorry, didn't know why I thought that would be funny. So...wanna go inside?" And she pointed to the art gallery behind her.

Still red faced, Maki stiffly nodded, stomping past Nico without looking up from the ground. Nico stared after her, then silently cursed herself for being so awkward that Maki couldn't relax around her. The date was going to be disaster if she didn't think of something soon.


	5. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fan dates have begun, some seem to have fun, some are already done and my anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hon...kidding i love all girls but this story isn't about my gay ass

If Nozomi had to describe Aikawa Ryo in one word, it would be handsome. Her charming aura, her smooth smile and glinting eyes made quite the magnetic combination; she was effortlessly attractive, catching everyone's eyes without an overbearing presence. A bit like Eli, Nozomi thought. The blonde too was always the center of attention whether she liked or not.

Talking with Ryo was fun, the actress was easygoing and open-minded, and most importantly, educated and well-informed about almost everything. Political or social issues, whatever topic Nozomi broached, Ryo was always up to date and on the same wavelength as her, just as fired up as her about the inequalities in society and just as frustrated about the slow speed of change.

Nozomi certainly loved the innocent conversations she had with her friends, but talking with someone older than her was refreshing once in a while. She felt really lucky to be on a date with someone so mature.

* * *

Not understanding a thing she saw was a common feeling Nico had in class, and now abstract art had to be added to her list of incomprehensible things. No matter how much she tilted and turned her head, she couldn't interpret the art work in front of her which looked like the artist had simply tried out every watercolor on the canvas to find the right color, and before they got to paint the actual work, the white space had been used up. And then it was hung up and now had a worth of several million Yen.

Nico couldn't believe that there were people intrigued by this. Even with her low level of art skills, she would be able to reproduce that drawing. Frustrated, she turned her back on it, her gaze sweeping the room until it landed on Maki. Unlike Nico, the younger girl was drawn in to the presented works the moment she stepped inside the art gallery, and she went from painting to painting with a concentrated expression. She took her time to read through the descriptions before she would look up at the paintings again, thoroughly examining them.

Under usual circumstances, Nico would have fought tooth and nail before she got dragged into places like these, but today she didn't mind it that much. Yes, she was still bored enough to try and count the tiles on the floor before she realized that she hated math, but being here didn't feel like a waste of time to her. Even if she didn't get to talk to Maki much, she was content with simply looking at her. Because Maki looked so comfortable in this environment, her shoulders and whole stance was relaxed as she strolled through the gallery. Nico could tell that this was one of the rare locations where Maki could let her guard down.

In some ways, Maki was just one of the paintings in here. Just like that abstract drawing with the whole palette of watercolors, Maki was complicated, unique and most of all something that Nico desperately wanted to understand.

* * *

Tsubasa didn't think she had laughed this much in a long time. Because Honoka trying to ice-skate reminded her of a baby deer taking its first steps; her trembling legs kept folding in, causing her to fall clumsily. Luckily, Honoka was ambitious and tough, not the least bit demotivated by the fact that she hadn't managed to skate one complete round on the ice rink.

"Here, Honoka," Tsubasa said, her cheeks tinging a weak shade of red because she still wasn't used to saying her first name, but Honoka had insisted on it. She stretched out her hands, offering them to Honoka. "Hold on to them and try again."

"But," Honoka looked up with wide eyes, "does that mean you'll skate backwards?"

"Yeah," Tsubasa smiled, then blushed when Honoka let out a loud sound of awe. "It's nothing special."

"I want to become as good as you," Honoka said in determination, nodding to herself. She reached for Tsubasa's hands, paused in short hesitation before she tightly grabbed them. Apparently, too tightly, because a pained whimper escaped Tsubasa's lips.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry!" Honoka let go again, hiding her face in embarrassment. "I got nervous..."

"It's okay, I overreacted," Tsubasa said quickly, cursing herself for not being able to suppress that sound. "I'm fine, let's try again."

But Honoka shook her head, gazing at her in guilt. "You are downplaying your talents and your pain to make me feel better. When you say that skating backwards is nothing special or when you say you overreacted when it actually hurt...I don't want that. I don't want you to treat me like a kid."

Tsubasa's gaze softened. "Honoka..."

"I know I don't seem like the most reliable person," Honoka admitted, "and Umi-chan told me that sometimes people can't help but treat me like a child because of how I act. But can I ask you to see me as your equal? Please?"

It wasn't until now that Tsubasa realized how much this must have bothered Honoka. Her quirky loud character gave her a childish image, and she probably was treated as such even by her own friends. But she didn't want to be patronized, she didn't want to be underestimated anymore. She just wanted her share of respect. And Tsubasa was willing to give her all that and more.

"Honoka," she breathed, reaching for Honoka's hands and squeezing them reassuringly. "You've always been my equal. I'm sorry if I made you feel patronized, but I'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

A bright smile spread on Honoka's face, and she asked, "Really? You always thought I was your equal?"

"Really," Tsubasa said with an earnest nod.

And when the words sank in, Honoka ducked her head with a blush. "Thank you."

Seeing a flustered Honoka made her own cheeks heat up, so Tsubasa cleared her throat and said, "Then, let's practice until you can skate on your own, how about that?"

Honoka gave her a big smile. "I'll keep fighting!"

* * *

The more time Umi spent with Anju and Erena, the more obvious it became to her that they had to be dating. Even Eli slowly caught on, feeling uncomfortable about being alone in their presence because when Umi had excused herself to the bathroom, leaving them three alone, Eli had involuntarily witnessed Erena's hand on Anju's back sliding down her body until it came to a rest on her butt. Anju showed no signs of being touched inappropriately, keeping up the conversation she held with Eli without being the slightest bit fazed. Eli deduced that she probably was used to this.

She breathed out in relief when Umi returned, sitting opposite of Erena again, and the hand was off Anju's behind. Not that it was any of her business, but there were some things she didn't need to know about other people.

The A-Rise members were easy to talk to since they all had something in common now: their school idol careers. They talked about crazy fan meetings and tightly packed schedules, talked about dance practices and weird encounters with other artists. But in the end, they came back to the topic that led them here hanging out at a cafe. The auction.

At the mention of the dates, both Umi and Eli became tense, reluctant about starting this topic again. They just wanted to forget that their loved ones were going on dates with other people.

"I don't think you have anything to fear," Anju said to Umi, who was staring at her tea cup with a stiff look. "I caught a glimpse of Minami-san's date when Erena and I were leaving, and... how do I put this lightly... They don't match."

"You saw the candidates?" Eli interjected, sitting upright. "Did you see Nozomi's?"

"Um..."

Erena and Anju shared a concerned look before Anju began in a hesitant tone, "I'm not too sure if I saw correctly, but I think I recognized Aikawa Ryo."

"Who?" Eli asked, clueless.

Umi frowned. "Isn't that the newcomer theater actress who won several awards this year?"

"Yes, that would be her," Erena confirmed, flinching when Eli knocked over her drink.

"Actress?" Unfazed by the spilled drink staining her sleeve, Eli leaned forward and stared at Erena. "What does she look like?"

"Uh..." Erena's eyes kept flickering to the mess on the table. "Befitting her roles, I suppose."

"Tall, handsome, charming," Anju added. "Very dreamy. Ouch! Erena!"

"Sorry," Erena replied without looking the least bit apologetic for pinching Anju where Umi and Eli couldn't see.

Eli buried her face in her hands, muttering to herself. Umi patted her shoulder in an attempt to soothe her. "That doesn't mean anything. Nozomi isn't the kind of person to be solely impressed by looks."

"Yes, Tojo-san does give off a very faithful vibe," Anju continued.

"Also," Erena paused, "could you please do something about your drink, it's dripping off the table."

"Erena," Anju scolded her girlfriend with a light slap against her stomach. Pulling out tissues out of her handbag, she dried the table and Eli's soaked sleeve the best she could. "Now, there's no reason to feel down, it's obvious that Tojo-san's affection for you can't be rivaled."

When Eli looked up with a hopeful look, Umi added quickly, "Yes, you have something that Aikawa doesn't have."

"An inferiority complex?" Erena muttered. She let out a quiet yelp when Anju slapped her thigh for that comment.

"Erena," Anju hissed beneath her breath, "be a bit more sensitive, can you?"

"That's rich coming from you," Erena whispered back, not caring that the two µ's members could actually hear everything they said. "You didn't seem to realize that I wanted to spend this day just with you. Instead you invited your crush and Ms Looks-Cool-But-Is-Actually-Whiny to our date."

"Uh, restroom." Umi and Eli excused themselves to the bathroom at the same time, almost knocking into each other in their hasty attempt to get up and leave.

Anju threw up her hands in exasperation. "See? Now they think they are unwanted."

"It's because they  _are_ unwanted," Erena countered, crossing her arms and looking the other way.

"What's gotten into you?" Anju pulled at Erena's chin, making her face her way again. "Did I do something to upset you?"

Erena stuck out her bottom lip. "You didn't even deny the 'crush' part."

"Oh, so you were serious about that?" Anju snorted in amusement, pulling at Erena's bottom lip to stop her pouting. "It's like I'm dealing with a baby." Erena bit after her fingers. "A baby with full-grown teeth."

"I just don't understand why we have to spend our day off with them," Erena complained. "Do you know how rare it is for us two to be alone?"

"I'm aware of that," Anju replied with a sigh. She leaned her head against her girlfriend's shoulder. "I'm sorry if you feel like I didn't value our time alone. I just thought it would be nice to have more friends aside from Tsubasa, who will soon be too busy with Kousaka-san."

Erena hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

When Umi and Eli came back after five minutes, they were relieved to see the two A-Rise members no longer bickering, and they hoped that it would stay this way. At least for the duration of their time together.

"I owe you an apology," Erena spoke up after Umi and Eli had settled in their seats. "What I said was uncalled for even if it was the truth." She grimaced when Anju kicked her leg beneath the table. "I apologize again. It seems I lack the competence for social interaction."

"Uh," Eli smiled weakly, "that's okay, I'm not offended by what you said. It was the truth after all. For a moment, even I didn't recognize myself."

"She's not usually like this," Umi clarified, helping to rebuild her friend's image that had suffered in front of A-Rise. "Those last few days were tough on all of us. It didn't help that neither Nozomi nor Kotori wanted to tell us anything about their dates."

"Understandable," Anju said, empathic. When A-Rise had auctioned off dates, it had been nerve-wrecking for her to watch eager hands shooting up in the air to bid for Erena. In the end, a spoiled teenage girl from a wealthy family had won, and she had been clinging to her favorite idol during the whole date. Erena had been less impressed by her companion, completely annoyed by the end of the day that she swore to never participate in an auction again.

"But you can't let that get you down," Anju added. She pointed to Erena with her thumb, saying, "You know what Erena did on the day A-Rise had their dates?"

"I'd rather not talk about that," Erena interrupted, but Anju ignored her.

"She pretended she got food poisoning at the restaurant so she could leave her date early to spy on mine."

Umi and Eli slowly turned their heads to face Erena, who cringed at the judging looks. "Okay, first of all, the salmon they served there was clearly not from the freshest haul, which my stomach could tell. So I excused myself and intended to go home. I just happened to pass by."

"I was on the other side of town," Anju replied in a dry tone.

"So was I," Erena defended.

"No, you were not, and want to know how I know? Your fan kept posting about the date on every social website, so I knew what you were doing every minute." Anju blew up her cheeks. "Sharing a drink with the same straw, seriously?"

"What?"

Umi and Eli felt out of place. They wondered if it was rude to excuse themselves to the bathroom again.

Erena ran a hand through her hair in frustration. "I did no such thing as share a drink with her. And why are you telling me this now, how long have you been waiting to say this?"

"Well, I didn't want to bring this up and sound like the jealous girlfriend," Anju said, crossing her arms.

"Then I have some news for you," Erena muttered. They faced opposite ways, huffing.

"Chrm," Eli let out an awkward cough. "I think it's time for Umi and I to go. We still have...stuff to do."

"Yes," Umi added slowly. "A lot of things to do."

"Oh, please don't go," Anju reached over the table to touch Umi's hands, "I'm so sorry about how things turned out. Please don't take this wrong, I didn't invite you out of obligation or anything, I really wanted to get to know you better."

Umi carefully pulled her hands out from beneath Anju's, feeling Erena's murderous gaze on her. "And we appreciate that, we really do. But I believe you two need some much deserved time alone."

"Yes, thank you for inviting us, it was fun," Eli said, telling only a half-lie. It had been quite pleasant until the couple had started disagreeing with each other. "We should do this again some other time."

"Oh, okay," Anju gave in, disappointed. "I hope next time Erena will learn to behave herself. She looks so mature on the outside but is worse than a child on the inside. It's her oversized pride, I'm telling you."

"Yes, let's blame this on me," Erena said sarcastically. "Does this make you feel better?"

"If you finally be quiet then yes," Anju huffed.

Umi and Eli quickly put some bills on the table and got up. "Thank you for everything, we're taking our leave now."

"Goodbye!" Anju waved at them while Erena nodded to them.

The two µ's members bid goodbye and hurried out of the cafe, releasing a sigh of relief once they were outside.

"Wow," Eli breathed, pulling at the collar of her shirt. "That was something. They weren't what I expected."

Humming in agreement, Umi put on her cap again to hide her face. "I'm sure Erena just needs time to warm up."

Eli refrained from replying that Anju wasn't making it easy for Erena to warm up to Umi. "Yeah..."

"So what do we do now? It's going to be dinner time soon," Umi asked after a glance at her watch. One of the few rules of today's event stated that the dates had to include a dinner around seven pm.

"I heard there's this really good restaurant near our school that opened last week," Eli said, wanting to take out her phone to check the name of the restaurant. "Oh no." As she touched her empty pockets, panic welled up within her chest. "I left my phone on the table. I'm going back in for a moment, okay?"

Umi nodded and stepped to the side of the entrance so she wouldn't block other customers from going into the cafe. "I'll wait here."

Walking back in, Eli prayed that the A-Rise couple wasn't in the middle of fighting again. But instead, no one was at their table anymore. Their half-full drinks and handbags were still there though. And Eli's phone.

She grabbed it with a sigh of relief, then gazed around questioningly, wondering where Anju and Erena could be. She almost bumped into a waitress, who ran to a work colleague in distress.

"You won't believe this," she whispered to her, both horrified and intrigued, "some guests are having sex in the women's restroom!"

Eli almost dropped her phone.

"What?" the other waitress hissed, aghast. "No way! Do we tell the manager?"

Whether they decided to tell the manager or not, Eli would never know as she stormed out of the cafe before she could hear more of their conversation.

"Did you find your pho- " Umi trailed off when she saw Eli's expression. "Eli?"

"Let's...let's go," the blonde muttered, dragging her feet past Umi.

"Uh..." Umi gazed uncertainly at the cafe's entrance door, then at her friend again. "Did something happen?"

"You don't want to know."

* * *

It wasn't until Nico sat down and finally had the time to observe her opposite that she realized something was different about Maki today. Maybe it was the lighting of the restaurant that enhanced Maki's beautiful features or maybe it was just her own imagination, but Maki looked so mature. She sat upright with her shoulders straight but it didn't look stiff at all, exuding casual elegance instead. She most likely learned early on how to behave dignified in a restaurant because her parents often took her to formal dinners.

"Aren't you hungry?" Maki asked when she saw that Nico hadn't touched the menu card.

"What?" Nico blinked in confusion because she had been too busy staring at Maki to consider choosing a dish. "Oh, right. Food." Cringing at her own awkwardness, Nico hid her face behind the menu card.

Maki didn't fare much better. Despite acting calm on the outside, she too was pretending to be interested in choosing a menu while her mind was completely elsewhere. It occurred to her that Nico was unusually quiet today. Actually, she was acting unusual long before that. When Maki had suggested to visit an art gallery via text message, she had expected some form of protest from Nico, but the other girl had agreed with a smiling emoticon and asked where the address was. She still couldn't believe that Nico had voluntarily followed her into the art gallery this afternoon.

Peeking over her menu card to get a look at her date, Maki caught Nico's eyes gazing back at her and she quickly ducked her head again. "Um, do you already know what you're ordering?"

"Er, no," Nico mumbled behind her menu card, cursing herself for being so obvious about her staring. "I don't go to restaurants often so I never know what to order."

"Right," Maki breathed, remembering that Nico cooked almost daily for her family.

"What about you? Do you know what you want?"

"I'll have tomato soup as appetizer."

Nico snorted.

"What are you laughing about," Maki muttered.

"Nothing. I just don't understand your obsession with tomatoes," Nico said, chuckling. "It seems to come out of nowhere."

"Pff." Maki put down the menu card. "And I don't understand your obsession with becoming an idol."

She braced herself, fully expecting Nico to start ranting about how being an idol was her life-long dream, but nothing came.

Nico propped her chin on her hand and tilted her head, gazing at Maki with a wistful smile.

"Nico-chan?"

"I envy you, Maki-chan," Nico said quietly, still giving Maki that half-smile of hers. "I envy you in so many ways but mostly I envy your endless possibilities."

"Hah?" Maki had no idea where Nico was trying to go with this and she felt distressed that she didn't understand why the other girl seemed sad now. What had she done?

"You see, I obsess about becoming an idol because it's the only thing I can dare to put my heart into. It's the only path I can follow if I don't want to go crazy." Nico cracked a smile. "This is why I envy you. You could become a doctor. You could become a pianist. Or a songwriter or a model or anything you want because you are good at everything which gives you endless possibilities. But I...I don't have any talents at all. I'm so average it hurts."

"Nico-chan..."

"I'm not blaming you," Nico added quickly, realizing that the mood had gotten heavy because of her. She forced a smile. "It's just, your question about why I want to be an idol will be something that I'll hear a lot of times until I can stop them by being successful. Until then, I'll have to justify my dreams again and again. But you, Maki-chan, if you choose to study medicine, no one will ask you in a condescending tone why you want to become a doctor. No one will tell you that it's a childish dream."

Maki opened and closed her mouth, at a loss over what to say. She wanted to comfort Nico, tell her that her dreams were valid too and that she should chase them, but no sound came out. It was the first time Nico had looked so vulnerable yet mature in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I ruined it," Nico cursed, holding her forehead. "I didn't mean to say all that, I just got really scared of the future. I don't want to graduate because I'm scared to find out who I am without µ's. I'm scared to find out that I was a nobody who rode on the others' coat-tail."

"No, that's not true," Maki finally managed to say, bursting out with words straight from her heart. "You're Yazawa Nico, the cutest school idol of all, and you matter! Not just to the fans, but also...but also to me!"

Nico's eyes widened. "Maki-chan..."

"And I don't think you're average at all," Maki continued, feeling her cheeks flush, "you can do so many things that I can't even dream of. You have a natural talent for being an idol because you know how to handle the press and the fans, you're not nervous at all. But I, I can't even smile in front of a camera."

Stunned, Nico wordlessly stared at Maki.

"So what if our dreams are childish," Maki added softly, her hand on the table sliding forward until it met Nico's halfway, shyly touching her fingertips with her own. "They are dreams after all. They are meant to make us feel excited about life like kids are."

Nico swallowed, glancing at Maki's hand that was in reach. "You're so smart it scares me." And she gave herself a push and let her fingers cover Maki's.

Both Maki and Nico stared down at their laps, feeling their cheeks burning, but they refused to break the physical contact.

"You're scared by a lot of things," Maki said, trying to sound mocking, but her nervous voice couldn't deliver her intended tone.

"Yeah," Nico shakily breathed out, wondering how a simple hand touch could bring her mind to a standstill. "Are you not?"

"Scared? Of what?"

"Like, the future."

Maki stared at their touching hands. "Probably not as much as you are. I still have two years in high school left."

"True," Nico muttered. She squeezed Maki's fingers. "You better enjoy your time there. Make tons of beautiful memories."

"Why?" Maki noticed how small Nico's fingers were in comparison to hers. But so warm and comforting.

"Do you even have to ask," Nico said, smiling. "It's to counter the sadness over us third years leaving!"

Maki's expression froze. She pulled her hand out from beneath Nico's.

"Maki-chan?" Instantly missing her touch, Nico worried about having said something insensitive again, which happened more often than not.

"You had to go ahead and say it," Maki said lowly, playing with the tablecloth. "As if I could forget that."

"Oh," Nico breathed, finally understanding what was going on. "I'm sorry, it slipped out."

Realizing that she hadn't been the only one to fear her graduation, Nico felt warmth spreading throughout her body.

"Hey, Maki-chan."

Maki slowly looked up, her expression troubled.

Nico did her signature gesture and sang, "'Nico nico nii, it's Yazawa Nico calling, so you better pick up with a smile, Maki-chan.'" Nico lowered her hand, grinning. "I'll make this a ringtone just for you. Consider it a graduation gift, from me to you."

And she achieved her desired result; Maki couldn't help but smile at the silliness Nico displayed.

"Aren't graduation gifts supposed to be for the graduating?"

"Maki-chan," Nico whined, "don't be so strict about it. Do you not want it?"

"I didn't say that," Maki replied far too quickly to sound casual about it. She realized her mistake when she saw Nico smirking. "Stop that."

"Stop what," Nico pretended to be clueless, her smile so smug Maki wanted to pull it off her lips. With her own lips.

"That," Maki gestured roughly to Nico.

"But you're pointing to all of me," Nico pouted. "Are you telling me to stop being Nico?"

"Urgh," Maki muttered, but found it difficult to get angry at the other girl. In the end, she gave in to Nico's innocent puppy look, a small smile forming on her lips. "You're unbelievable."

Nico's expression lit up. "But I got you to smile. And if I can make people smile, then I've done my job as an idol."

Maki's gaze softened. "You'll be a great idol."

Feeling embarrassed because Maki had gotten serious all of sudden, Nico tried to say in a confident tone, "Of course!" but it came off squeaky. She cleared her throat. "I'll become the number one of super idols, you'll see."

It hadn't been always easy to deal with Nico's idol persona, but now Maki found it quite endearing. She smiled softly when she said in a genuine tone, "I can't wait."

* * *

She tried to be subtle about it, but knew that her date must have caught on to her nervous glances at her watch by now, which didn't stop his monologues though. Kotori counted the minutes until she could say goodbye and never see that fan again, but time seemed to play a cruel joke on her and run extra slow today.

Just when she thought about excusing herself to the bathroom for the third time since they had arrived at the restaurant, she felt her phone vibrating in her handbag. Out of politeness, she ignored it and pretended to listen to whatever her opposite had to say, but her phone kept vibrating. Even when it stopped, it was only a short pause before it kept making noise again.

"Excuse me, I'll have to take this one," Kotori said, taking her phone and getting up to speak elsewhere. Her date looked up in confusion, disgruntled that she would stand up and leave in the middle of him retelling his story of how he fought hard in an online auction to win a super idol collection box.

Kotori's phone was still vibrating, receiving an incoming call from Rin.

"Rin-chan?" Kotori asked when she picked up the call.

"Finally!" Rin exclaimed on the other side of the line, her voice high and distressed. "What took you so long? Actually, never mind, it's an emergency! Honoka-chan got sent to the hospital, she broke her leg when she went ice-skating!"

Kotori blinked. "Eh?"

"There is no time for 'eh'," Rin said urgently, "you need to come right now, she needs all the support she can get!"

"But..." Kotori was about to reply that she couldn't leave her date just like that when she realized that she didn't care. Actually, this was her chance. Her chance to leave her date early with a good reason. "Which hospital?"

"I'll text you the address! Hurry!" And Rin hung up.

Kotori knew it was wrong to feel even the slightest bit of happiness in this moment. Despite worrying over Honoka's well-being, she also felt relief at getting to ditch her incompatible date now. She hurried back to their table and grabbed her coat hanging on the backrest of her chair.

"What's wrong?" her date asked. "Do we have to leave for somewhere?"

"I'm so sorry, but Honoka-chan got into an accident, I need to leave now," Kotori explained, quickly putting on her coat and picking up her handbag.

"What?" he spluttered, standing up. "No, you can't leave now, dinner is going to be served soon!"

"I'm sorry, but I can't think about food if my best friend is hurt," Kotori shook her head.

"No, I don't believe you," he replied angrily. "You've been staring at your watch the whole time. And now you're making up some excuse to leave!"

"This is not true!" Kotori already felt stressed enough about Honoka's situation and now she had to listen to false accusations too. "Honoka-chan needs me!"

"But why you?" he asked with a frown. "µ's has nine members, doesn't it? You don't really need to be there as long as the others are. What difference can you alone make by being there too?"

Her handbag slipped through her slack fingers. Feeling her eyes starting to burn, Kotori faced the ground.

It hurt. She didn't think it would hurt this much, but his words brought back painful memories where she had questioned her own place in µ's. She knew she had her important role as the costume designer, but was that everything? Was that everything she was needed for in µ's? Or was she replaceable without her talent in the fashion department? Did her presence not matter otherwise?

"Take that back," a voice spoke up next to Kotori, dark and angry.

Kotori jerked her head up, revealing eyes brimming with tears as she stared at the person next to her. "Umi-chan..."

Umi's voice had always been one of the stronger and deeper ones among the members in µ's, but in an infuriated state, it was so powerful it could send shivers down a grown man's spine.

"Sonoda Umi?" The fan stared at Umi in disbelief, feeling goosebumps breaking out on his skin when he was met with a dark glare. "But - where - how?"

"Do you have trouble understanding me?" Umi growled, her wrathful expression causing her opposite to flinch.

"Umi-chan," Kotori whispered, wiping at her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

Umi's expression instantly softened when she faced Kotori. "I came to pick you up." She turned back to the staring fan, her aura darkening again. "But I'm not going to leave until I hear an apology. You will tell Kotori that you are deeply sorry for what you said."

"But I didn't even say anything offensive," he countered, not understanding the situation at all. "She started crying on her own! I just asked her what difference it would make if she didn't go."

"And you're going to apologize for that." Umi narrowed her eyes at him. "µ's would be nothing without Kotori. She makes all the difference."

"But..." the fan stuttered, exasperated, "I paid for that date! I paid a lot of money for it, so she can't leave now!"

"I will compensate for it," Umi replied calmly. She handed him her phone. "Give me your number and I will contact you tomorrow about the sum of your reimbursement. Consider this a fair offer."

The man stared at the phone in his hands. Then he slowly looked up at Umi. His gaze traveled to Kotori next. She turned her head away to hide her red eyes.

He sighed and handed Umi her phone back without typing anything into it. "I'm sorry."

He bowed deeply in front of Kotori. "I'm deeply sorry for upsetting you. I hope you can see me as your loyal fan again."

Kotori smiled weakly. "It's okay now. I'm sorry too that this date didn't turn out to be what you imagined."

"No, it's fine," the fan muttered, his gaze flitting to Umi before it landed on the ground. "I never stood a chance anyway."

Annoyed that he thought to have a chance to begin with, Umi fought hard to keep down her urge to make him apologize again. Instead, she picked up Kotori's handbag from the floor and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's go."

They left without glancing back, leaving behind a devastated fan who lifelessly slumped down in his seat, not looking up when the ordered food finally came.

"Are you okay?" Umi asked in concern the moment they stepped outside the restaurant. She stretched out a hand, wanting to wipe away the rest of Kotori's tears, but pulled back in the last moment, embarrassed that she had done that without thinking.

Seeing the faint blush on Umi's cheeks was oddly soothing for Kotori. This way she knew that Umi had turned back to her usual self, so unlike the girl whose intimidating aura was a terrifying force to be reckoned with.

"I'm okay," Kotori breathed, nodding with a smile, feeling incredibly happy to be with the person she had thought of all day. But her smile froze when she remembered something. "Honoka-chan! We have to go see her, Rin-chan should have texted me the address of the hospital by now, we should-"

"Kotori," Umi gently interrupted, touching Kotori's arm. "Honoka is fine."

Kotori lowered her hand that held her phone. "Eh?"

Clearing her throat, Umi faced to the side in embarrassment as she explained in a meek voice, "I happened to pass by this restaurant and saw you sitting inside...you seemed like you didn't want to be there at all, so I called Rin. She sounded excited about the challenge to make a convincing call."

"You did this for me?" Kotori stepped closer to Umi. "Oh, Umi-chan, you gave me quite a shock, you know. Why didn't you clue me in?"

"Because I know you," Umi said, avoiding Kotori's gaze now that she was so close. "You would feel too guilty to leave otherwise." She lowered her head. "I'm sorry I decided that on my own."

"No, I," Kotori swallowed, "I'm so happy I could kiss you for saving me from that horrible date."

"K-kiss?" Umi stumbled back a few steps, overwhelmed by the possibility of receiving a kiss from the one she loved most. She was nowhere near prepared, she hadn't brushed her teeth or researched on how to properly kiss, she also didn't want to disappoint Kotori with her inexperience.

But her shocked reaction didn't seem like a happy reaction to Kotori. Her smile turned sad. "But Umi-chan probably wants to save her first kiss for someone she likes."

It took Umi a few seconds to process those words before she burst out, "No, you got the wrong idea!" She stared at the ground, every bit of her face was bright red, even the tip of her ears were burning. "I...I wouldn't mind...giving you my first k-kiss...because I...really like you, Kotori."

"Umi...chan...?" Kotori was speechless. She knew Umi was incapable of joking about these things, so it could only mean one thing. "Umi-chan!"

Kotori jumped at Umi and engulfed her in a tight hug, squeezing the other girl as close to her as she could. "Umi-chan, I like you too!" She felt tears rolling over her cheeks again, but this time every drop of them was filled with happiness.

"Kotori," Umi breathed with a smile, putting her arms around Kotori too and snuggling against her.

"I," Kotori sniffed, burying one hand in Umi's hair, "I couldn't concentrate at all today. I thought about you all the time, wondering if you thought about me too."

Umi closed her eyes. "Of course I did. You were all I thought of, not only today but these past days too. I was about to lose my mind if Eli and Anju hadn't helped me."

Kotori put her chin on Umi's shoulder. "Anju helped you?"

Umi chuckled. "More or less. She provided great entertainment which was a helpful distraction. Now that I think about it, her fights with her girlfriend were quite amusing too."

"Girlfriend?"

Umi cursed quietly. "I should not have said that. I was in no position to reveal that about her."

Kotori leaned back so she could look Umi in the eyes. "She has a girlfriend?"

Uncomfortable about saying more because it felt like going behind Anju's back, Umi just nodded.

"Is it Erena?" Kotori asked again, her eyes widening.

Umi nodded again.

Kotori suddenly felt a lot lighter. She giggled, hugging Umi tightly again.

"Kotori?"

"Umi-chan, I like you," she sang, "I like you, I like you, I like you!"

"Kotori..." Embarrassed at first, Umi gave in and chuckled at the cuteness. "I like you too."

* * *

Eli still found it hard to believe that coincidence made them walk past the restaurant where Kotori had her date. Even more incredible was the fact that Umi had sensed her presence and stood still, looking through the windows inside the restaurant to see poor Kotori being miserable on her date. If Nozomi were here right now, she would tell Eli that the spiritual power of their fated love had brought them together.

But what did this mean for Eli and Nozomi? That their relationship was never meant to go beyond friendship? After all, nothing seemed to go right these past days and Eli also had no clue where Nozomi's date could be.

She was unsure of where to go next. When Umi had been determined to get Kotori out of her date, Eli had said goodbye, lying about not feeling well. Truth was, she wanted to avoid becoming the third wheel once Kotori joined them. And she had the feeling that her presence would only hinder the progress of their relationship. So she told Umi that she would go home for today and deal with things tomorrow.

But she couldn't go home now. Somewhere out in this city, Nozomi was on a date with someone attractive, successful, intelligent and charming, and Eli kept telling herself not to think too much into it. It wasn't like Nozomi was going to replace her. Ryo had nothing on their deep friendship, all she had was more money, more maturity, more awards, more fame, more life experience...

Eli forgot where she had been trying to go with this. But if that had been an attempt to lift her spirits, then she had failed.

Why was it even so hard to find out where they were? Weren't they both supposed to be a little more known around the area?

Eli stopped dead in her tracks. She might have to change her signature line because she sure didn't feel clever at all.

Taking out her phone, she browsed through social network sites to get a clue on Nozomi's whereabouts. The results didn't disappoint, showing pictures with captions of their locations.

Frowning, Eli zoomed in on a blurry picture that had been secretly taken by a fan. It was no doubt them and despite the blur, she could tell that they were engaged in a lively conversation.

Maybe checking up on them wouldn't hurt. The restaurant wasn't too off her way back home too. Just to make sure Nozomi was really having fun and didn't need to be saved from a boring date like Kotori.

* * *

"But it turned out that the food was just a prop which she only found out after biting into it," Ryo managed to get out between laughs.

"Oh no," Nozomi laughed in response, holding a hand in front of her smiling mouth, "that so reminds me of Elichi when she tried to eat a piece of plastic chocolate."

"Really?" Ryo chuckled. "That's hard to imagine."

"Isn't it?" Nozomi agreed, grinning. "She seems so smart and cool but sometimes lacks logical thinking."

"Don't let her hear that," Ryo said with an amused smile.

"Oh, Elichi can bear that bit, she knows she can't fool me with her cool act." Nozomi smiled into her drink, her gaze becoming distracted.

Ryo tilted her head. "You like her a lot, don't you."

Taken aback, Nozomi looked up into a knowingly smiling face. Ryo gave her a wink. "She was on your mind the whole time, right? Whatever we talked about, it always led back to her."

Embarrassed that she had been seen through, Nozomi lowered her head. "Ah, I'm sorry, it's not that I don't enjoy -"

"No, it's okay," Ryo interrupted gently. "I actually feel a little bit guilty about this date. I hope Ayase-san doesn't take this wrong, I just wanted to talk to you again and thank you for what you have done for me years ago. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be where I am now."

"You flatter me," Nozomi blushed, waving Ryo off. "But it was only fortune telling, not future telling. You did the rest yourself."

"But still," Ryo protested. "You don't know how much your advice meant to me. It gave me strength to keep fighting and now I'm here where I want to be."

Three years ago, when Nozomi started helping out at the shrine, she would also read fortunes for the people visiting the shrine if they wanted it. What began as a playful offer to entertain the visitors soon earned her a reputation as a goddess because her predictions turned out to be more accurate than not. Some people would visit the shrine solely to get their fortunes told by Nozomi.

Aikawa Ryo, twenty years old during that time, went to the shrine to pray for a sign on how to continue her life. After a failed debut and two years of playing minor roles and substitutes, she had little faith left that theater was the right path for her. Depressed about the thought of abandoning her childhood dream, she kneed before the shrine and prayed for things to become clearer to her.

Her epiphany came in the form of Nozomi, who held out a hand to her and helped her get up from the ground. Despite not being asked to do so, Nozomi pulled a fortune card and said if Ryo wanted to near her goal, she needed to keep moving forward. She was only in the business for two years, she was still young and eager to learn and improve. Giving up now would be forfeiting before the battle even begun. Ryo needed to keep her head up and eyes open if she didn't want to miss out on opportunities.

Shocked to hear that Nozomi seemed to know her profession without having told her anything before, she left the shrine. But the next day she came back and asked Nozomi how she knew. The younger girl smiled at her and said she liked Ryo's performance in a play she had seen. If she auditioned for roles she would feel more comfortable in, she would be stunning for sure.

Ryo realized that all the plays she had been auditioning for so far were from big productions. They already had specific characters in mind and she never fit those, but because she had potential, she got minor parts.

So she redefined her dream, splitting them up in steps and she went for small indie productions where she was given more freedom to express herself. She soon found herself shining in roles meant for male leads and she took the marginal scenes of theater by storm, becoming a name to be reckoned with. The big productions became aware of her too, realizing her potential to pull in younger crowds to the theaters. Soon, she received an offer to star in a play written with her as the lead in mind and this play was her breakthrough, garnering even the attention of mainstream media. It had been a good year for her, winning every award there was to win.

And today, she sat opposite of the person who gave her the much needed push. "All I could see was my goal. But I didn't think about the steps I had to take to get there. This is why I want to thank you for making me see them when I tried to fly past them."

Nozomi would be lying if she said she had known all along that Ryo would succeed. But she had believed in her, believed in her doing the right thing. It made her incredibly happy that her words had helped someone else become happy too.

"I'm really glad," Nozomi said genuinely, smiling. "But I'm sure you would have eventually gotten there."

"Who knows how many years that would have taken," Ryo joked. "I have to use my best years now, don't I?"

"Very true," Nozomi agreed.

"By the way," Ryo said, leaning in closer. "It's been bothering me for a while but...I think someone's watching us."

Nozomi knit her brows. "Isn't that normal for you?"

"No, not like curious staring the way fans do," Ryo shook her head. She glanced left and right before she continued, "It feels more intense. Like I'm being judged."

Nozomi looked around when she saw a flash of blonde hair outside the window. She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes. "Excuse me, but I need to go outside and make an important phone call."

"Oh," Ryo said in surprise, "okay. Take your time."

As Nozomi stepped outside the restaurant, no one was to be seen in the dark.

Nozomi sighed. "I don't know why you don't trust me."

Appearing from around the corner, Eli slowly walked closer.

"I do trust you. More than anyone."

"Then why are you here?" Nozomi realized she couldn't be really irritated with Eli when her expression reminded her of a wounded puppy.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," Eli muttered, looking to the side when her words sounded like a lame excuse spoken out loud.

Nozomi chuckled in amusement. "And? Do I look alright?"

Eli slowly faced her, seeming almost shy about meeting her gaze. "No."

"No?"

"No," Eli confirmed. "You don't look alright. You look gorgeous."

Speechless for a few seconds, Nozomi ended up laughing. "Oh, Elichi, charming your way out of an apology now, are we?"

Eli smiled sheepishly. "And? Did it work?"

"Obviously not if I called you out on it," Nozomi chuckled. She took a step closer to Eli. "Tell me. Why are you really here?"

Running a hand through her hair, Eli sucked in a breath when she didn't quite know how to formulate an answer. "I wanted to see you."

"Oh?" Nozomi's eyes sparkled in amusement. "Don't you see me almost everyday?"

"That doesn't matter," Eli's voice became quiet. "I needed to see you today."

Nozomi was close enough to pull at the hem of Eli's jacket. "Only today?" she whispered.

Eli swallowed, struggling with herself over the next few words. "And every day after."

Both stared at the ground between them, blushing to the tip of their ears.

"I'm not too sure if I like this smooth-talking side of yours," Nozomi muttered, pulling Eli closer by her jacket.

"Eh?" Eli felt her body temperature rising when she realized how close she was to the other girl.

"I won't forgive you if you use that on anyone else but me," Nozomi whispered, placing one hand against Eli's cheek. Her touch caused the skin beneath her fingertips to burn even brighter.

"I won't forgive myself if that was the case," Eli replied quietly, leaning into the touch.

"What a sense of commitment," Nozomi breathed, caressing the soft skin. "You sometimes put up such a hard and dutiful front, I think you could have been a soldier in another life."

"Nozomi," Eli muttered, her eye lids fluttering when her opposite stepped closer, their faces only few inches apart.

"You still haven't told me why you're here," Nozomi whispered.

"But you already know." Eli closed her eyes. "At this point, we can't go back anymore, can we?"

"Why? Do you want to?"

And Nozomi stepped away from Eli, retracting her hand. Eli's eyes fluttered open in confusion at the missing physical contact. "Nozomi?"

The other girl had her back turned to her. "The truth is, I have a hard time reading you, Elichi."

The blonde didn't understand where this was suddenly coming from. "But you know me best. You always know how I feel, even before I do."

"Because sometimes your expressions are honest when your heart is not," Nozomi said with a weak smile, gazing back at her over her shoulder. "But right now, I can't tell which part of you is not being honest with me."

"Eh?" Eli touched her own face as if she wanted to feel for herself if her expression was honest or not. "I don't understand..."

Nozomi lowered her gaze. "You still can't bring yourself to say why you came to see me. 'We can't go back anymore'? You talk like you are regretting this."

Eli felt her heart sink.

"It's because I do," she burst out in frustration, grabbing Nozomi's wrist and pulling her back around. "I regret not telling you sooner about how I feel, I regret letting it come to this where I'm just a coward waiting for your date to be over." Eli sniffled. "I regret not being your first date."

Stunned about the passionate reaction, Nozomi's eyes flit across Eli's face. "Elichi..."

"I'm sorry," Eli muttered, lowering her head. "I wanted to wait until this was all over to tell you how I feel. But seeing you in there, laughing with her, it made me realize...when was the last time I made you laugh? When was the last time you came to me to talk about something that meant a lot to you? I worried about not being that person for you anymore. I worried about being a terrible friend."

Eli intertwined their fingers. "And if I can't even be a good friend, then I don't have a chance at becoming...more."

Nozomi squeezed her fingers. "Silly."

"Eh?"

Smiling at her, Nozomi brought up their hands to kiss Eli's knuckles. "You are silly for worrying about these things when you could worry about other things."

Eli's heart raced when Nozomi's full lips kissed her fingers. "Other things to worry about?"

"As in how to kiss me if you don't stop talking." And Nozomi tilted her head up to bring her lips against Eli's, slinging an arm around the blonde's neck to pull her closer.

Wide blue eyes stared at closed ones before they fluttered shut; Eli placed her hands on Nozomi's waist and deepened the kiss by slightly tilting her head to the side.

Eli's mind was wiped blank. All memories of the past few days were erased, gone, replaced by only one thought: Nozomi. Her lips, her tongue, her breath, her skin, everything revolved around her, Eli couldn't think of anything else in that moment. She could feel herself getting breathless but refused to be the first one to break the kiss, refused to stop something that should have happened a long time ago.

"Oh, oops."

But someone else stopped their kiss for them.

With her mind still foggy, Eli didn't recognize the person who had just walked out of the restaurant. Realizing they had been close to making out in a public place, Eli flushed deep red and asked herself how that could happen.

"Ah, I'm so sorry, Nozomi took a while so I worried that something happened, but seems like I should have waited just a moment longer."

Ryo rubbed her neck in embarrassment. Nozomi buried her red face against Eli's chest.

"Er..." Eli patted Nozomi's head. "It's okay. I should have been the one to wait a moment longer."

"No, it's fine, I'm glad you two sorted it out," Ryo said with a smile. "I've been worrying about you getting the wrong idea. I didn't want to ruin things for Nozomi."

"Eh?" Eli looked down on the girl in her arms. "Nozomi?"

"Sorry," Nozomi mumbled against Eli's chest, "I might have talked a lot about you today."

Ryo extended a hand to Eli, who took it in confusion. "Congratulations! Or as you like to say, 'harasho!' for getting your girl! Nozomi is a prize for sure."

Eyes lighting up, Eli grinned widely. "I know, right?"

"I would say we have to drink to that. It's on me," Ryo said with a wink.

The blonde turned to Nozomi. "I like Ryo. Let's keep her."

Still blushing, Nozomi muttered, "I'm glad you two are bonding over me."

But even with her face hidden, both Eli and Ryo could tell that Nozomi's expression couldn't be happier in this moment.

* * *

"So the stove was on fire, I was freaking out, Kotarou was hanging upside down and I still had melted chocolate all over my face," Nico gestured wildly to visualize her story, her exaggerated motions making Maki involuntarily laugh. The older girl was in the middle of retelling an incident not too long ago involving clumsy siblings and failed cooking attempts, and every sentence brought a smile to Maki's face.

"And that was a usual day in the life of the Yazawa family," Nico concluded, pleased that she could entertain Maki enough to make her smile.

"Sounds wild," Maki replied with a chuckle.

"It sure is," Nico agreed. "You should come visit some day and see for yourself."

Realizing that she had just invited Maki to her home, Nico covered up her nervousness by taking a sip from her drink. "Only if you have time to come, of course..."

Maki couldn't tell why this casual offer made her so happy. Nico's home was nothing special, small even with five people living in it, and the younger siblings were loud and rowdy and attention-seeking. Maki didn't even like little children. But her heart pounded at the thought of entering Nico's room, discovering more of her personal life and getting to see a part of her that no one else knew.

Feeling herself getting excited, she didn't manage to suppress her eager tone, raising her voice, "I'll come." Her eyes widened. "T-to your house, I mean!" she added quickly, cheeks burning. "I'll come to your house someday."

She wanted to hide her face behind the menu card again, but it had already been collected by the waiter.

The ambiguous mistake wasn't lost on Nico, who did Maki a favor by ignoring it, mostly because she felt herself getting warm at the thought. Clearing her throat, she mumbled, "Good, that's settled then."

Maki couldn't believe that she had let out something so embarrassing again. Just when things had been running smoothly for her the past twenty minutes, she fell right back into her awkward zone.

While Maki was battling her own embarrassed feelings to stay calm, Nico was struggling too. Struggling to keep her mind clean of dirty thoughts which were most definitely inappropriate for her to have right now. They were on their first date for heaven's sake, Maki was two years younger too and still such an innocent child despite looking mature. She believed in Santa after all. But what Nico was thinking about would get them both on the naughty list.

"Ah, excuse me," Nico shot up from her seat. "Restroom."

Overwhelmed by the sudden reaction, Maki stuttered, "Oh, okay." She saw Nico's torn expression and flushed cheeks. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Nico nodded, avoiding Maki's concerned look. Now she felt even worse for worrying Maki over nothing.

As Nico walked away in great strides, her long hair billowing behind her, Maki noticed her walking in a different direction from where the restrooms were supposed to be. She was heading outside.

Maki jumped to her feet, running after Nico before she realized it, feeling something cold gripping her heart and threatening to crush it, shaking her to the core and numbing her mind.

Why would Nico lie and try to leave? Was Maki really that awkward that Nico couldn't bear to be in her presence for one second longer, willing to leave without taking her handbag and jacket because she knew that Maki would take them for her?

She knew she wasn't whom Nico expected to go on a date with, she knew her character was difficult to deal with and she often did things she couldn't explain herself either. But what had she done this time? Did her slip of the tongue disgust Nico so much that it was the breaking point?

Maki pushed open the door and stumbled outside, looking left and right for the other girl.

A few meters further, Nico was pacing up and down the boardwalk, holding her head and muttering to herself. Maki slowly stepped closer.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Maki heard the raven-haired girl curse. She clenched her fists.

"You didn't have to lie," she said coldly.

"Whoa, Maki-chan?" Nico exclaimed in shock, turning around. "When did you – what are you talking about?"

Maki stared at the ground, feeling herself getting too angry to speak because her throat was dry and her eyes were tearing up. "You didn't have to lie about wanting to go on this date. I'm just a bother to you, aren't I? This whole date was just a bother to you."

"What?" Nico's arms fell slack to her sides. "I don't get it."

"That's what I want to say," Maki said, looking up to reveal her hurt expression. "I don't get why you can't be honest with me and just tell me that you didn't want to go on this date. But instead you put up a sweet face and then try to escape in the middle of it!"

"Escape?" Nico repeated, realization dawning on her. "Oh, Maki-chan..." Her eyes softened. "I didn't try to escape or leave."

"Then why did you lie about going to the bathroom?" Maki countered, wiping at her eyes.

Nico bit her bottom lip, conflicted. She couldn't possibly tell Maki the real reason.

"I see," Maki muttered, turning around. "I'm going back inside to pay the bill."

"Wait, no," Nico got a hold of Maki's wrist, who tried to shake her off, but Nico didn't let go. "Who knew that Maki-chan could be such a crybaby?"

"Hah?" Maki turned back to Nico. "Who are you calling a crybaby?"

Seeing part of Maki's usual self returning, Nico smirked. She pulled at Maki's arm. "You. You are."

"You little..." Maki hissed, but her eyes widened when Nico suddenly took a step closer, grinning at her up close. "Nico-chan?"

"Say, Maki-chan," Nico whispered, her hand sliding down to grab Maki's hand. "Would I really be here right now if I didn't want to be?"

Maki swallowed, turning her head to the side.

Nico's smile softened when she realized that Maki could be insecure too despite trying hard not to show those moments of doubts. "I'm sorry," she said lowly, looking down on the ground. "I just went outside to clear my head but I didn't want you to worry, so I lied. But you're also at fault."

"My fault?" Maki said, incredulous. "How is this my fault when you're the one running out without explanation?"

"Because you made me," Nico muttered, unsure how far she was willing to go with the truth. "You were too cute and I couldn't help myself, so you better take some responsibility."

Maki opened and closed her mouth, staring at Nico with wide eyes. When half of the words sank in, she blushed, but stayed irritated. "Seriously? You are using the 'take responsibility' line on me?"

Nico pouted. "It didn't work?"

Maki couldn't believe this. She couldn't believe how Nico managed to both irritate and placate her, driving her mad with both cuteness and insolence. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to silence Nico with a kiss or a choke hold.

"In what universe would this work," Maki hissed, trying to shake Nico off again, but it only made the other girl step closer.

"In this one," Nico said, sticking out her bottom lip and looking up at Maki with an innocent look. "Forgive me?"

"Urgh..." Maki became still. How she hated herself sometimes. "Maybe."

"Only maybe?"

Maki grit her teeth. She had to stay strong or she would never hear the end of it. "Maybe."

"Then," Nico paused, mustering up all the confidence she had, "will a kiss earn me your forgiveness?"

Maki froze. Her wide eyes bore themselves into Nico's, unblinking and unwavering. "Eh?"

Feeling heat crawling up her neck, Nico knew there was no going back now. She swallowed. "You heard me, Maki-chan."

Maki had trouble breathing. Her mind told her to run. Her heart also told her to run because it feared it wouldn't survive a kiss without exploding. But her body went against all caution and leaned forward; her eyes were closed and her head tilted before she knew it, pressing a tentative kiss to Nico's lips that lasted one second. But that one second was enough to send a shock through their bodies, making them jump apart again.

Maki stumbled backwards, covering her mouth with her hand. She couldn't believe what she had done.

Overwhelmed herself, Nico touched her lips, not having expected a bold Maki at all. Maybe she had gone too far with her teasing.

"I – I -"

"Um, you-"

Both found it incredibly hard to look at each other now, stammering and averting gazes.

Nico's plan backfired. What seemed like a witty idea in her head didn't have the impact she thought it would have in reality. No, it had far more impact than she had bargained for, her head was wiped blank with a single kiss and all she could think about was getting another one to keep her mind blissfully empty, only filled with happiness and warmth and the feeling of Maki's lips against hers.

"M-Maki-chan?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Are you still mad?" Nico asked, hesitant.

Maki had forgotten what she was supposed to be angry about. What had they even been talking about before the kiss? Words seemed so irrelevant now that they had discovered a different way of communicating, a much more enjoyable way of communicating.

"Yes," she suddenly said, stepping closer to Nico again.

"Eh?"

"I'm furious," Maki muttered, grabbing a fistful of Nico's cardigan and pulling her closer until they were nose to nose. "You need to earn my forgiveness little by little." Their foreheads touched. "Kiss by kiss."

Nico sucked in a sharp breath. "How many kisses?"

Maki closed her eyes. "So many."

Closing her eyes too, Nico let out a breathless chuckle. "That's a lot you're asking for, Maki-chan. I'm not too sure if I can keep up with that spoiled butt of yours."

"You will," Maki breathed. "Because you like that spoiled butt of mine."

"Wow," Nico suppressed a laugh, intertwining their fingers. "I'm definitely not a good influence on you."

"You're right. I'm talking too much."

And Maki closed the little gap left between them by gently pressing her lips against Nico's, hesitant and shy, unsure over what to do in a kiss that lasted longer than one second. She had seen some kissing scenes from movies where they were tilting their heads left and right, but how would she know which way to move?

Nico could feel that Maki was thinking too hard on how to kiss while neglecting the actual kissing, so she placed her hands on Maki's cheeks and pulled her closer, guiding her to complement her own movements.

Both quickly learned to match each others' pace after a clumsy start where noses bumped and teeth clashed; but once they realized that the other wasn't going to disappear any second, they slowed down and took their time finding a rhythm both could fall into. There was no need to hurry.

"Nico-chan..." Maki said breathlessly, putting her hand over Nico's that was still holding her cheek.

"Hm?" Nico hummed, not trusting herself to speak.

Maki swallowed. "Would you...would you go on a second date with me?"

Nico blinked rapidly.

"I know our first one isn't officially over yet and maybe it's too soon to ask for a second one, but I just wanted to -"

Nico stopped Maki's nervous rambling with a kiss, only parting when she could feel Maki relax.

"You're troublesome one," Nico muttered, smiling. "Your confidence comes and goes."

"So..." Maki frowned. "Was that a 'yes'?"

Nico grinned. "What do you think, you super smart one?"

Maki's expression loosened with a small smile. "That I have a chance with the super scared one?"

Nico pretended to pout. "Your chances are sinking with every word."

"Right," Maki laughed quietly, "then I'll stop talking."

Nico pulled Maki in by the shoulder. "And I know just the way to use your mouth productively."

* * *

"You were worried about that?" Umi asked softly. "Why didn't you just ask me if the rumors were true?"

Kotori pouted, leaning her head against Umi's shoulder. Umi adjusted her sitting position on the park bench to offer Kotori a more comfortable head rest.

"It's not like you don't know your reaction."

Umi blushed. "Yes, but I would have told you the truth."

"I was afraid of the truth," Kotori admitted in a quiet voice. "We've been friends for so long, I didn't know if you could see me in a different way."

"And I felt guilty about seeing you in a different way," Umi said, ducking her head. "I was supposed to be your friend, but I had other feelings for you too. I didn't want you to think that I spent time with you for any other reason than that I like being around you."

"Oh, Umi-chan, you can be so silly sometimes," Kotori laughed quietly, squeezing Umi's arm that was linked with hers. "Admirable, but silly."

Umi grumbled in disagreement but didn't reply.

Giggling, Kotori snuggled closer against Umi, half lying on her. "You're so warm, Umi-chan."

Umi swallowed in nervousness, feeling her hands getting clammy. Their faces were close, if Kotori tilted her head up and Umi tilted hers down, they would meet halfway in a kiss.

"K-Kotori?"

"Hm?"

"Can I-" Umi's voice became smaller. "Would you allow me to kiss you?"

Tilting her head up in surprise, Kotori held her breath when her mouth almost touched Umi's. Her eyelids fluttered shut, her heart started beating faster. "Please do."

She waited for soft lips to sink down on hers, but nothing came, feeling only Umi's shallow breathing ghosting over her skin. She opened her eyes in confusion. "Umi-chan?"

"Please give me a moment," Umi whispered, her cheeks flaming up as she stared at Kotori's lips in concentration.

Kotori giggled at the cute sight. She slung an arm around Umi's neck. "Don't think, just feel." And she pulled Umi in for the kiss she had been waiting for, moaning at the soft contact.

Umi felt her head spin at the sound, instinctively tilting her head to get more of Kotori, to get more of that sound coming out. Her lips tasted sweet, it had to be her favorite cherry lip gloss.

Both were inexperienced when it came to kissing, their lips were gliding against each other in a slow and experimental dance, but with time they became bolder, learned each others' rhythm and pace, and Kotori found herself climbing on top of Umi's lap without registering it.

Umi only noticed Kotori sitting on her when they paused to gasp for air. "K-Kotori..."

Even if it was dark now and they were alone, it was still a public place. Anyone could pass by any minute.

"Don't worry," Kotori said breathlessly, leaning in for another kiss, "no one will come..."

Umi's phone began ringing and vibrating in her jeans pockets.

"It – it might be important," Umi stuttered when Kotori kissed her behind her ear, but she couldn't bring herself to stop the other girl because it felt too good.

"I didn't say you should ignore it," Kotori giggled, stopping her teasing to hug Umi.

"Honestly, Kotori..." Umi took out her phone and checked the caller ID before she accepted the call and switched to speaker so Kotori could listen too. "Rin, what is it?"

"Umi-chan..." A sniff rang out. "Honoka-chan, she...she really broke her leg this time."

* * *

"Unbelievable," Umi muttered, pacing up and down in the waiting area of the hospital. The room was packed full. Aside from other visitors, all members of µ's except for Honoka plus the three members of A-Rise were present.

"I'm so sorry," Tsubasa kept repeating with her face buried in her hands. "It was all my fault."

"My, my," Anju said with a sympathetic look, patting her friend's head while Erena asked, "How was that your fault?"

"Yeah, I bet Honoka did something rash without thinking again," Maki muttered, but her tone contradicted her worried look. She was holding Nico's hand, who agreed. "She's all over the place, that girl."

"No, it really was my fault!" Tsubasa insisted.

Eli shared a glance with Nozomi before she asked, "Then, what happened?"

"Ah..." Tsubasa looked to the ground. "We, uh...we were..."

"Oh no," Erena muttered, facing away. "I don't think we're going to like this."

"What?" Rin asked in confusion. Hanayo tilted her head questioningly.

"It's not a matter of whether we're going to like this or not," Umi said sternly. "We need to know if Honoka is alright, so please, enlighten us."

"Umi-chan," Kotori whispered and tugged at her sleeve to get her to calm down. She was talking to the leader of A-Rise after all.

"We were taking a walk, visiting our local shrine," Tsubasa began, looking like she was getting a stomach ache. "And we stood by the stairs when it happened. When she fell down the stairs."

"Hah?" Maki let out in disbelief. "Not even Honoka is clumsy enough to just fall down the stairs by standing next to them. What are you leaving out?"

"Hey, that's A-Rise you're talking to," Nico muttered, still nervous about being in the same room as the people she admired.

"Maki is right," Eli added. "We can bear the truth."

Tsubasa pinched the bridge of her nose. "We...we were kissing when Honoka-san stumbled to the side and fell."

Ten pairs of eyes stared at her in disbelief.

Erena ran a hand through her hair and sighed. Even Anju knew nothing to say, helplessly continuing to pat Tsubasa's head.

Hanayo's mouth was open in a silent squeak while Rin gaped at Tsubasa.

Maki turned her face to Nico, raising an eyebrow and wordlessly asking her if that was seriously the idol she admired. Nico held her forehead with a pained look.

Umi looked like she had found out something she didn't want to know and Kotori knowingly rubbed her arm. Eli's eyebrow twitched. Only Nozomi seemed to be amused by the news.

"Um, excuse me?" A doctor entered the room with a clipboard in his hands. "Who of you is here for Kousaka-san?"

"We are," eleven voices rang out in unison, startling the other guests. The doctor blinked. "I'm sorry, I can only allow two guests at a time."

"Then Kotori and I would like to go first," Umi said, raising her hand. Nobody protested, knowing that the second years shared a special bond since their childhood. They followed the doctor out of the waiting area and into a patient's room.

"Honoka!"

"Honoka-chan!"

Aside from having her leg in a cast, Honoka seemed fine as she perked up at the voice of her best friends. "Umi-chan! Kotori-chan!"

"How are you feeling?" Kotori asked, sitting down on a stool next to the bed and taking Honoka's hand.

"I'm fine," Honoka replied with a sheepish smile. "Just can't move my leg."

"Honestly," Umi said, shaking her head, "we heard how you fell. And I don't know whether to feel pity or to be angry because you're going to miss our next live."

"Then I choose pity," Honoka muttered. She blushed. "Tsubasa-san told you how I fell?"

"They forced her to," Kotori came to Tsubasa's defense. "She didn't want to tell."

"Which I can fully understand now," Umi said with a grimace.

"It was dark and I was overwhelmed and I just wanted to take a step back and breathe, but then I forgot we were standing by the stairs," Honoka rambled, trying to justify herself.

Umi sighed. "You're lucky you didn't break more than that."

"Yeah, yeah," Honoka waved her off, suddenly pausing. "Umi-chan, since when are you wearing lip gloss?"

"Eh? I'm not..."

Honoka quickly looked between Kotori and Umi, a knowing smile spreading on her face. "Oh, don't tell me..."

"What?" Umi said, uncomfortable, and Kotori blushed.

"Finally!" Honoka exclaimed, sounding excited and happy. "You two kissed! Are you girlfriends now? Can we go on double-dates now?"

Umi hid her flushed face behind her hands. Kotori was less embarrassed about it, happy that Honoka was genuinely excited for them. It always felt good to have the support and blessing of a best friend. "Double-dates? I take it the date with Tsubasa-san went well then?"

"Yeah," Honoka breathed, giggling. "I learned how to ice-skate today too. Being with her is so much fun!"

"We're glad," Umi said softly. "We'll let the others see you now, but don't get too excited, you need to rest."

"Yes, sir!" Honoka joked, saluting her. "Bye bye!"

They promised to come back tomorrow and left the room, meeting Nozomi and Eli waiting outside already.

"How is she doing?" Nozomi asked.

"As usual," Umi chuckled. "A broken leg doesn't stop her from being Honoka."

"That's good to hear," Eli said with a laugh. "See you later."

Eli and Nozomi entered the room, seeing Honoka greet them with a grin.

"Look who's popular." Eli's eyes landed on the leg cast. "Somehow I'm more surprised that this is the first time you've broken a bone."

"Hey," Honoka protested with a pout. "Injured person over here."

"Now, now," Nozomi chuckled, "we're relieved to see you being mostly healthy. Aside from a broken leg."

"Do your parents and your sister know?" Eli wondered.

"Yeah, they're on their way." Honoka grimaced at the thought. "My mom is going to be so mad at me."

"She's only worried, she'll forget her anger once she sees you," Nozomi placated her, giving her a smile.

"Maybe," Honoka muttered. Suddenly perking up, she looked at Nozomi with a curious expression. "How was your date? I heard you were meeting up with a theater actress."

Nozomi grinned, shooting Eli a teasing look. "It was fun. She was attractive, intelligent, educated, well-mannered -"

"Yeah, yeah, she was amazing, I get it," Eli interrupted, rolling her eyes. "I can't even be mad at Ryo."

"Why would you be, Elichi," Nozomi said playfully, winking at her. "You know who I really like."

"Nozomi!" Eli muttered in embarrassment, not wanting to discuss this in front of Honoka.

"No, you too?" Honoka gasped. She smiled widely. "Something happened between you two! Did you kiss like Kotori-chan and Umi-chan did?"

Blushing, Nozomi and Eli shared a fond look. Honoka suddenly felt like intruding on a private moment.

"Wait...they kissed?" Eli asked, referring to Umi and Kotori.

Honoka nodded with a grin.

"Today seems to be a special day," Nozomi chuckled. "I noticed Nicochi's swollen lips earlier."

"No," Eli whispered in disbelief. "Her and Maki?"

Nozomi nodded. Honoka laughed to herself. "Are there only couples in µ's now?"

"Well, Rin-chan and Hanayo-chan were already dating before, so..." Nozomi trailed off when she saw Eli's shocked look. "You didn't know?"

Eli turned to Honoka, who looked just as surprised. "Really?"

Nozomi grinned. "I see, µ's awaits a colorful future."

"What does that mean, Nozomi-chan?" Honoka asked in confusion.

"Nozomi?"

But Nozomi just put a finger to her lips and winked.

The past few days were filled with ups and downs for everyone in µ's, but in the end, everything had worked out fine for everybody. They were all little bit wiser, a little bit more confident than a week before and they would work hard to keep their happiness in place now that they had found it. And somehow, they all weren't too surprised that an event which was based on one of Honoka's wild ideas would come to an end because of Honoka.

The auctions didn't teach them more than they already knew, as in that love couldn't be bought, but it made them aware of their feelings, made them acknowledge them and act on them. And even Eli, Umi and Maki, who were against the idea in the beginning, were now ready to embrace this memory as something that changed their life for the better.

µ's had always prided themselves on chasing after dreams because they wanted to. Who said that it was any different when it came to love?

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

"Due to some recent changes in our group dynamic, we need to set a few rules," Umi began, standing in front of the whiteboard while the rest of µ's were sitting at the table. "First of all, Nico, stop touching Maki's leg beneath the table. Yes, I saw that."

Blushing, Maki stared at the table while Nico pulled her hand back with a 'booh'.

Umi wrote down the first rule on the board.

_No inappropriate display of affection during club activities_

"Question," Rin raised her hand. "What counts as inappropriate?"

"Kisses longer than one second, anything beyond kissing, hands where I can't see them," Umi listed. "The rules are a work in progress, I will add things where I see fit. Now, the second rule."

_No inappropriate couple activities in the club room_

"Did you read that, Nozomi?" Umi pointedly asked. "The next time you want to 'check Eli's bra size', please do it somewhere else."

Nozomi grinned innocently while Eli buried her face in her hands when everyone looked at them.

"Question," Nico spoke up. "What counts as inappropriate in this case?"

Umi massaged her forehead. "Nico, please use your common sense."

"Not available, what else do you suggest?" Maki asked. Nico glared at her.

"Do I really have to give examples?" Umi said in disbelief. "Fine. Do not make out on the table. Right, Nozomi, Eli?"

Eli sank deeper in her chair while Nozomi smirked.

"Cuddling in the club room is okay, Rin, Hanayo," Umi continued with an approving nod to the first years. "But I draw the line at naked cuddling. Luckily, I haven't walked in on that before. But, I'm not finished, Nico," Umi raised her voice, "for the last time, no fondling beneath the table."

"Wait, wait, wait," Nico protested. "What is this double-standard, I clearly saw Kotori's hands on your thighs the other day."

Umi's cheeks reddened, but her stern expression didn't change. She faced Kotori. "The same goes for us too, Kotori."

Kotori pouted.

"Anyway," Umi cleared her throat, forcing herself to look away, "let's move on to the next rule."

_No canceling practices for couple activities_

"But I'm proud that this hasn't happened so far," Umi commented with a smile.

"Um..." Hanayo hesitantly began, looking around. "Where is Honoka-chan?"

The sitting µ's members stared up at Umi in fear.

"No, that's okay, she gave me a prior notice that today is Tsubasa-san's birthday," Umi replied. "Which reminds me to improve this rule."

She added three words to the third rule.  _No canceling practices for couple activities without prior notice_

"Good," Umi said, glancing at the whiteboard. "Does anyone else have suggestions?"

"Yes," Maki raised her hand. "I want to introduce 'No touching me when I'm trying to write a song'."

"What?" Nico said defensively when everyone's eyes fell on her.

"Fine," Umi sighed, uncapping her pen and adding a new rule.

_No touching Nishikino Maki when she is trying to write a song_

"Nicochi gets her own rule?" Nozomi chuckled. "How nice. But it has less to do with the others, doesn't it?"

"That doesn't matter," Umi answered with a head shake, "if it can improve the performance of our club, then we will need it."

"Then I would like to suggest one too," Nico said, sitting up in her seat. "'No making out in the student council room'. Last time I went in there for club business, I thought Umi and Kotori were one person."

Because Umi was too embarrassed to talk, Kotori spoke up, "But that has nothing to do with µ's activities, Nico-chan. It doesn't hinder our performance as a club, does it?"

"I agree," Umi nodded.

"Double-standard!" Nico exclaimed while Rin called out, "Unfair!"

"My, my," Nozomi laughed while Eli shook her head, saying in a serious tone, "Umi, I expected more from you."

Umi gave in and scribbled on the whiteboard again.

_No inappropriate display of affection in the student council room_

Kotori stuck out her bottom lip, unhappy about the newest rule.

"I'm sure Honoka would agree," Eli said.

"Yes, yes," Umi muttered. "Any other suggestions?"

The members all shook their head when Maki suddenly flinched in her seat.

"Okay, that's it," Umi growled, turning back around to the whiteboard to furiously write down the next rule.

_Yazawa Nico does a hundred push-ups every time she touches Nishikino Maki inappropriately in the presence of other µ's members_

"What the hell is with this specific rule," Nico protested, pounding the table with her palm. "Why doesn't this one follow the pattern of the other rules?"

"Because you don't follow the other rules," Umi said with a dark look, and Nico leaned back in her chair, becoming quiet.

"Umi-chan," Kotori said gently to calm her girlfriend down. "Maybe the last one went too far."

Nico nodded eagerly.

"Okay, then," Umi cleared her throat. "We're voting."

"What?" Nico hissed. "You can't vote on that."

"Of course we can. Everyone in favor of voting on that, please vote."

"Wait a minute -"

All hands except for Nico's were up. She stared at Maki in disbelief, who pointedly ignored her.

"Next, all in favor for the last rule, please vote."

Maki's hand shot up first, followed by Umi's and Eli's. Rin and Hanayo hesitated to vote but in the end raised their hands too when Maki gave them a pleading look.

"That's enough votes to enforce this rule," Umi announced. "The rules are now valid for every club session. Breaking the rules will result in immediate punishment. That's all for today, the club meeting is over."

As the other members got up to leave, Nico was still in her seat when she raised her hands and shouted, "Objection! I want a revision of those rules."

"Objection overruled," Umi countered. "But I'm glad to see your hand up in the air and not on Maki's lap for a change."

Nico gave up, sinking down in her chair as everyone walked past her. "I see, everyone's conspiring against me."

"Well, I gave you enough chances," Umi said, pausing at the door. "But I can see why it must be difficult for you to hold back. Maki is a very attractive girl."

"Right?" Nico agreed. "Wait a minute. Why are you saying that in such a weird tone?"

And Umi did something that unsettled Nico even more. She winked.

"Hold on a moment, what does this mean," Nico shouted after her even when she had left. "You already have Kotori! Why did you say that about Maki-chan? Umi? Uumiii!"

* * *

 


End file.
